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Copyright by Underwood and Underwood. New York. 

Nathan Hale 

The statue by Frederick MacMonnies, erected in City Hall Park, 
New York City. 

" I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public 
good becomes honorable by being necessary." — NATHAN Hale. 



NATHAN HALE 



BY 
JEAN CHRISTIE ROOT 



' O Beautiful ! my Country ! . . . , 
What were our lives without thee ? 
What all our lives to save thee ? 
We reck not what we gave thee ; 
We will not dare to doubt thee, 
But ask whatever else, and we will dare ! " 
Commemoration Ode, 

James Russell Lowell. 



Keto gorfe 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1915 

All rights reserved 



Copyright, 1915, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1915. 



Nortooolr }^xtss 

J. 8. CuBhing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 

WSMr, 



PREFACE 

Many a man dies at what appears to onlookers 
the very zenith of fame, — the very summit of suc- 
cess. But as Time moves on, its relentless finger 
first dims, then absolutely effaces, his personal 
records, so that, even to the generation immedi- 
ately following him, his former fame becomes 
incredible. The marvel is not when a man's 
standing is in time lowered, but rather when some 
invisible power, — call it what you will, — through 
slow, revolving years, lifts him ever higher, until 
his fame becomes a national crown of glory and 
bids fair — like that of the dead at Thermopylae, 
or the victors at Marathon, or of individuals like 
Washington and Lincoln — to last as long as time 
shall last. If sometimes true of mature men, this 
has seldom been true of very young men. Indeed, 
so short is this list that but two names are recalled 
as of abiding interest ; one, that of Arthur Henry 
Hallam, enshrined in the imperishable Hues of 
" In Memoriam," the voicing of Tennyson's love 
and sorrow; while to colonial America and the 
year of our national independence, and to Yale, 



vi PREFACE 

his alma mater, belong the splendid story of a 
youth who courageously gave up a life that he had 
willingly risked for his country, accepting an 
ignominious death with more than Spartan firm- 
ness, at the age of twenty-one years, three months, 
and sixteen days. 

Both of these names, perhaps especially that of 
Nathan Hale, seem destined to go on increasing 
in radiant influence and strong inspiration century 
after century. Such souls, however, are not acci- 
dents, but are the perfected fruit of generations of 
character and growth. Their development may 
sometimes appear due to opportunity ; and the 
strength of the soul that is in them, lacking that 
opportunity, might have lain hidden. 

It is an inspiring fact that, as we study the early 
days of our country, we find so many men and 
women bearing naturally, in their everyday life, 
these splendid traits of character. Wealth did not 
then abound — character did. The patriot of to-day 
may be pardoned if, as he contrasts the past and 
the present, he remembers with a sigh the simple, 
early life of the American people, and the splendid 
ability of the sons and daughters who went forth 
from those unpretentious homes to meet responsi- 
bilities, to conquer difficulties, and to lay broad the 
foundations for the noblest republic the world has 
yet known. The story we present of Nathan Hale 



PREFACE vu 

is that of a boy reared in one of those rural homes, 
presided over by upright parents whose children 
were trained to master life, to meet death fear- 
lessly, and all unconsciously to win ever-growing 
reverence. 

The story of this boy, of his home, and of the 
future to which his training led him, is well worth 
our closest and earnest consideration. 

It is impossible to claim originality in any im- 
portant detail in the sketch of a life so brief as 
Nathan Hale's. Especially is this true when that 
life has been so carefully studied and so ably 
presented by such men as the Hon. Isaac W. 
Stuart, Mr. Benson J. Lossing, Professor Henry P. 
Johnston, George Dudley Seymour, Esq., and the 
Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Secretary of Yale 
University, — all men who have come under the 
spell of that brave boy, and who have portrayed 
him as they beheved him to have been. 

This little book differs from their writing, to 
which it is greatly indebted, principally in the fact 
that it pictures him as seen through a woman's 
eyes ; lifted above all mortal loss, transfigured as 
have been all who have made the Great Surrender 
for " right because it is right," and who have gone 
forward, victorious through seeming defeat. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Nathan Hale's Early Years i 

CHAPTER n 
College Days .12 

CHAPTER in 
A Call to Teach 29 

CHAPTER IV 
A Call to Arms 44 

CHAPTER V 
Hale's Zeal as a Soldier 60 

CHAPTER VI 
A Perilous Service 71 

CHAPTER VII 

Grief for the Young Patriot .... 91 

ix 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VIII 
Tributes to Nathan Hale 



CHAPTER 


IX 








103 


HAN Hale's Friends 114 


The Rev. Joseph Huntington, D,D 






114 


Alice Adams .... 






118 


Benjamin Tallmadge 










125 


William Hull . 










129 


Stephen Hempstead . 










133 


AsHER Wright . 










136 


Elisha Bostwick 










. 137 


Edward Everett Hale 










. 140 



CHAPTER X 

Ancestors and Descendants of Nathan Hale's 

Parents . . 143 



CHAPTER XI 

Asserted Betrayal of Nathan Hale . 



147 



CHAPTER XII 
Contrasts between Hale and Andre . 



52 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

/ 

Nathan Hale, by Frederick MacMonnies Frontispiece ' 

FACING PAGE 

The Hale Homestead, South Coventry, Con- 
necticut 24/ 

Nathan Hale, by William Ordvvay Partridge . 62 

Captain John Montressor 88 

Nathan Hale, by Bela Lyon Pratt . . .112 / 
Nathan Hale's Basket, Powderhorn, and Camp 

Book 136 



NATHAN HALE 

CHAPTER I 
Nathan Hale's Early Years 

It is to-day a recognized fact that no life worthy 
of our reverence, or even a life calculated to awaken 
our fear, is the result of accident. Whatever may 
be the character, its basis has been the result of 
long-developing causes. This the life of Nathan 
Hale well illustrates. He was born at a time and 
under influences that were sure to develop the best 
qualities in him. He was an immediate descendant 
of the best of the Puritans on both sides of the sea. 
His great-grandfather, John Hale, was the son of 
Robert Hale, who came to America in 1632. John 
Hale graduated from Harvard in 1657 and was the 
first pastor settled in Beverly, Massachusetts, re- 
maining there until he died, an aged man. An 
ardent patriot, this John Hale, in 1676, gave about 
one-twelfth of his salary, some seventy pounds, for 
defense in King Philip's War. When need arose in 



2 NATHAN HALE 

the French War, he went to Canada as a volunteer, 
for a threefold purpose, — so that he might ac- 
company a number of his own parishioners, act as 
chaplain for one of the regiments, and fight when 
his aid was needed. 

Living during the witchcraft trials, he was one 
of the first to be convinced of the mistaken course 
pursued. We are not certain as to his approval or 
disapproval of the progress of the excitement in 
regard to witchcraft until it became intensely per- 
sonal to his own family. His wife was, fortunately 
as the results proved, accused by some misguided 
person of being a witch. The well-known nobiHty 
of her Kfe, and her lovely character, at once con- 
vinced all who knew the circumstances that some 
terrible mistake had been made by her accuser. 
And if a mistake had been made in her case, why 
not in others? At once the deadly power of the 
delusion was broken and, happily, the tide turned 
back forever. There was no question after this 
of the Rev. Mr. Hale's viewpoint as to witchcraft. 

In the very darkest depths of the witchcraft 
delusion, some illustrations of splendid courage 
and noble unselfishness were exhibited. Grew- 
some as it is, we cannot forbear quoting the ex- 
ample of one Giles Cory, condemned to die as a 
witch, who knew that if he did not confess he had 



NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 3 

bewitched people, his estate, which he wished his 
wife and family to inherit, would be forfeited, and 
that he would be pressed to death instead of being 
hanged. 

Being hanged is a comparatively brief experience, 
while the other way is prolonged and agonizing. 
But, for the sake of his family, brave old Giles 
Cory calmly faced this terrible, hngering death. 
He must have won from some, if not from all, the 
feehng that a stout-hearted and generous man had 
proved his love for his own as no mere words could 
have done. 

John Hale appears to have been a worthy an- 
cestor of the youth Nathan Hale, who, a hundred 
years later, so freely made a sacrifice of his life. 

John Hale's son, Samuel, was Nathan's grand- 
father; he made his home in Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire. One of Samuel Hale's sons, bear- 
ing his own name, Samuel, was a Harvard man. 
Another son, Richard, Nathan's father, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1 717, looking about to find the best 
farming lands for the support of a future family, 
moved to Connecticut, and became a farmer in 
South Coventry, thirty miles east of Hartford. 
Distinguished from the beginning for his success 
in whatever he undertook in business affairs, and 
also as a man of singularly upright character, 



4 NATHAN HALE 

Deacon Richard Hale won the warmest regard of 
all who knew hmi. His advice and help were 
sought, both in poHtical and reHgious affairs, to the 
full Hmit of the time at his command. 

His farm was among the best in that section. 
The house that he first occupied, probably one 
already on the place, was as comfortable and con- 
venient as the usual homes of the earher colonists. 
Later a larger house was built, big enough to ac- 
commodate a family of a dozen or more, and many 
guests as well. The house in which Nathan lived 
as a boy is still standing, and has fortunately 
come down to us with almost no mutilation. 

Though the forms and the voices of those who 
dwelt in them have long since vanished, there still 
linger about these vacant rooms the most tender 
and inspiring memories of the lives once developing 
there, now gone forward; nothing wasted or lost, 
as we will believe, of anything permanent they 
strove for or cared for in their dear, earthly home. 

To this home Richard Hale, married May 
2, 1746, at the age of twenty-nine, brought his 
young bride, Elizabeth Strong. If Richard Hale's 
pedigree was a good one, his wife, Elizabeth Strong, 
came from a family even more finely endowed. 
The first of her ancestors who came to America 
was Elder John Strong. He was one of the found- 



NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 5 

ers of Dorchester, now a part of Boston ; later he 
helped to found Northampton, Massachusetts. 

Mrs. Hale's grandfather, Joseph Strong, repre- 
sented Coventry for sixty-five sessions in the 
General Assembly of Connecticut, and when he 
was ninety years of age he presided over the town 
meeting, suggesting by that deed a man of some 
vigor, for town meetings were no playdays in those 
early years. His descendants, active in whatever 
their hands found to do, — in the ministry, the 
law, business, or politics, — were long prominent 
in New England and New York, and doubtless 
many are to-day still helping to mold their coun- 
try's future. 

The son of this Justice Joseph Strong was also 
named Joseph, and called Captain Joseph Strong. 
In 1724 he married his second cousin, Elizabeth 
Strong. He, too, was a noted man among the 
colonists. She, later, became the ^'grandmother" 
to whom Nathan so warmly alludes in one of his 
last letters to his brother. Captain Joseph Strong 
and his wife were the parents of Elizabeth Strong 
who, in her nineteenth year, married Richard Hale. 

To Elizabeth Strong Hale we can give but a 
passing notice. There is not, it is believed, one 
word that she wrote now in existence, nor any 
record left of that gracious womanhood, save a 



6 NATHAN HALE 

name on an obscure gravestone. But what trave- 
hearted mother would not count it well worth 
while to leave, for the coming years, the impress 
she left upon her many children ; one of them alone 
destined to carry to coming generations of Ameri- 
cans the assurance that such a son could only 
have been borne by one of the noblest of mothers. 
Dying at the age of forty, — April 21, 1767, — 
after a married life of twenty-one years, she had 
performed all the duties then expected from the 
mistress of a farmer's household in a section where 
the principal help that could be secured in any 
time of need came from the voluntary kindnesses 
of neighbors; for, like one large family, they felt 
it necessary to ''lend a hand'' whenever any one 
of their number was in need. Mrs. Hale had 
been the mother of twelve children when she died. 
Two of her children, named David and Jonathan, 
were twins. One of the twins, Jonathan, died 
when only a week old. David lived to be gradu- 
ated from Yale and to become a minister at Lisbon, 
Connecticut. A little daughter, Susanna, lived 
but a month, but ten of Mrs. Hale's twelve children 
grew to maturity. 

Nathan, the sixth child, born June 6, 1755, 
was the first of the ten to die, leaving to his sur- 
viving brothers and sisters a memory that in later 



NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 7 

years must have been an unfailing inspiration. 
He was delicate at first, but owing to his mother's 
care he later became as robust in body as he was 
in mind. For an older brother, Enoch, the plan 
was formed of sending him to college to prepare 
for the ministry, a custom then prevalent among 
many of the large and prosperous famiHes in New 
England. Nathan was at first destined for a 
business life ; but because of the urgent desire of 
his mother, heartily seconded by that of his Grand- 
mother Strong, he was allowed to enter college 
with his brother Enoch in 1769, when he was four- 
teen years old ; this was two years after the death 
of his mother. Four of Mrs. Hale's immediate 
relatives were graduates of Yale, — a fine illustra- 
tion of the value those progressive pioneers at- 
tached to education. 

As a boy Nathan was to his mother what he 
later became to all who knew him ; and the bond 
between such a mother and such a son must have 
been very tender and strong. It is a comfort to 
those who know what such mothers desire for their 
children, to remember the gladness and hope with 
which this mother, overworked and dying long 
before her time, looked forward to the days coming 
to her children. For Nathan, through her influ- 
ence, was to become one of Yale's noblest sons. 



8 NATHAN HALE 

As Nathan's mother died nine years before he 
did, we understand the full meaning of the line in 
Judge Finch's poem, 

"The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven," 

written many years later in honoring Nathan's 
splendid sacrifice. The poem to which the line 
belongs, read more than sixty years ago on the one- 
hundredth anniversary of the Linonian Society, 
an organization of Yale College of which Nathan 
Hale had been an early and an active member, 
had much influence in rousing first Yale men, and 
then other patriotic Americans, to recognize Nathan 
Hale as one of America's bravest martyrs. 

Mrs. Hale died in 1767. About two years 
later Deacon Hale married again, bringing to his 
home this time a widow, Mrs. Abigail Adams, of 
Canterbury, who must have been well fitted to 
take her place as the new head of the family. No 
ignoble mother could rear such children as she 
had reared, and Deacon Hale's second choice of a 
wife proved a wise and happy one. Providence 
appears to have smiled upon him when he opened his 
doors and invited Mrs. Adams and her children 
to share his home, and even the affection of some 
of his sons. It is said that two of Deacon Hale's 
sons fell in love with her youngest daughter, Alice 



NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 

Adams, who, at Deacon Hale's desire, came to 
live permanently in the family iniyyooriyyi, while 
his second son, John, married her eldest daughter, 
Sarah Adams, on December 19, 1770. 

The lives of both these women, Sarah and Alice 
Adams, are sufficient witnesses to the high charac- 
ter of the new mother added to the Hale household. 
To several of his biographers it has seemed quite 
probable that Nathan Hale wrote one of his last 
two letters to this mother. We grant that it may 
have been addressed to her, while intended for the 
reading of another. Of this, later. 

In regard to the marriage of John Hale and 
Sarah Adams it may be as well to state here that, 
after a married life of thirty-one years, John Hale 
died suddenly in December, 1802, his health prob- 
ably undermined by his service in the Revolu- 
tionary War, where he held the rank of major. His 
widow, desiring to carry out what she believed 
would have been his wishes, "bequeathed £1000 
to trustees as a fund, the income of which was to be 
used for the support of young men preparing for 
missionary service," — probably among the Indians, 
as this was before the support of foreign missions 
was undertaken in America — ''and in part for 
founding and supporting the Hale Library in 
Coventry, to be used by the ministers of Coventry 



xO NATHAN HALE 

and the neighboring towns.'' Included in the 
bequest for founding the still existing so-called 
"Hale Donation" was a portrait of the donor's 
husband, Major John Hale ; — well painted, for 
the period, and now of great interest. Mrs. John 
Hale died a few months after her husband. It is 
easy to believe that, though born of different par- 
ents, the Hale and Adams families were congenial 
mentally and morally, and that Deacon Richard 
Hale was a wise and fortunate man in his choice of 
a second mother for his children. 

According to his mother's and grandmother's 
wishes, it was early decided that Nathan should be 
prepared to enter college. After the fashion of 
those times, he and two of his brothers began their 
preparatory studies under the direction of the Rev. 
Joseph Huntington, D.D., then pastor of the 
church in Nathan's native town. He is said to 
have been a man noted for his intellectual power, 
for his patriotism, and for his courteous manners. 

It may be well to say here that, in those early 
days, the New England ministers usually settled 
in one pastorate for life, and they were not only 
teachers in spiritual things, but were noted for 
their courteous and dignified manners; so that 
even before he entered college Nathan Hale must 
have ha.d ample opportunities for the cultivation 



NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YE.\RS ii 

of the easy manners and courteous deportment 
which are said by all who knew him to have been 
so marked in him. 

Nathan Hale, as a boy, had one more asset that 
must have helped to insure his future success, and 
that did, as we believe, help him to die nobly. 
He was not overindulged ; he had always the spur 
of effort to urge him forward. It was told of him, 
many years after his^death, by the woman he had 
loved and who had known him well all his later 
years, Mrs. Alice Adams Lawrence, that whatever 
he did, even as boy, he did with all his heart, as if 
it engrossed his whole mind. Whether it was work, 
or study, or play, he gave all his energies to the 
doing of it. Such a disposition, together with his 
fine home training, must have helped to insure his 
success in Yale. 



CHAPTER II 
College Days 

In September, 1769, accompanied by Enoch, 
an older brother, Nathan Hale entered the Fresh- 
man class at Yale. His personal traits easily 
won the hearts of his classmates, while his quick 
understanding, his high scholarship, and his loy- 
alty to the college standards made him as popular 
among tutors and professors as among his class- 
mates. It is pleasant to know that, from the time 
we first learn of him until we see him standing 
beside the fatal tree, he appears to have won all 
hearts worth winning. 

But Nathan Hale had yet another gift that 
would surely endear him to college students of 
to-day as much as it doubtless did to his own 
classmates. He was a powerful athlete. So great 
was his skill in this line that, to successive genera- 
tions of Yale men, the ''broad jump" made by 
Nathan Hale remained unequaled. It is said to 
have taken place on what isnow^ called "The Green " 
in New Haven, not far from the Old State House ; 



COLLEGE DAYS 13 

and for many years the spot was marked to desig- 
nate the length of the jump. Even during the 
years when his courageous death appeared to be 
well-nigh forgotten, ''Hale's jump" was vividly 
remembered. But he not only ''jumped," he 
excelled in all games then popular in college, besides 
being a capital shot with his rifle, as well as a fine 
swimmer. 

Hale could, it is said, lay one hand on the top 
of a six-foot fence and easily vault over it; and, 
though this astonishing feat is reported as occurring 
while he was a teacher, he used to delight his 
companions by showing them how to stand in a 
hogshead with his hands on his hips, leap over the 
first hogshead, land in a second, leap from that 
into a third, and from that out on to the ground, — 
all this before he was twenty. 

Imagine the delight of the "other fellows" 
standing around to watch Hale go through his 
various stunts in athletics ! It almost makes one 
feel as if one had been a student and shared in the 
cheering when Hale did these things, so easy to 
himself, so difficult to the onlookers. Then fancy 
the talk at the supper tables, when the candles 
burned brightly and the eatables tasted twice as 
good because "old Hale" had won laurels for "old 
Yale" that afternoon by some "splendid" deed, as 



14 NATHAN HALE 

the boys called it. Whatever he did, we may be 

sure that it was done well and with all his might, 
and that nobody equaled him. 

This much for the athletic life of Hale in his 
student days. It was only natural to such a man 
that whatever he was — friend, student, teacher, 
or soldier — he should carry zest and earnestness 
to all his work, even as he carried his manliness, 
his courtesy, and his unquenchable spirit. 

Let us now turn to the record of his years of 
successful work at Yale. It has been said that 
whatever he did, he did with all his might, and his 
brain work was as notable in its results as were 
the strength and agiUty of his body. In those 
early days the college bell rang for prayers, as the 
beginning of the day's work, at half past four in 
summer and an hour later in winter; and there 
are men still living who remember, in later years 
and at later hours, the wild rushes half-dressed 
students used to make, adjusting what they could 
of their hastily donned clothing on their race to 
morning chapel. 

Hale, however, as well as his companions a 
hundred and forty years ago, were accustomed to 
early rising, and able to fill every hour of their 
long days with work or play. The course of study 
then was much shorter than it is now, but if lack- 



COLLEGE DAYS 15 

ing in quantity it certainly made up in some of its 
qualities. We doubt if Freshmen to-day would 
outshine their fellows of that very early time if 
their declamations on Fridays were required to be 
in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, ''no English being 
allowed save by special permission." 

Science as we now know it had not entered into 
the college course, but the little then known, and 
the other studies considered essential, compara- 
tively limited as they must have been, were taught 
so thoroughly that the men who carried away a 
college diploma carried a sure guarantee that they 
had been carefully taught whatever was then con- 
sidered essential to a college education. 

Although it is true that science was then in 
comparative infancy, it is also true that it was 
deeply absorbing to young Hale. Some of his 
most valued books were scientific, and, aside from 
the studies he was obliged to pursue, he eagerly 
absorbed educational theories and the best literary 
works then available. As a college student, he 
stood high ; as a thinker and as one interested in 
the finest pursuits of his period, he ranked equally 
high. Before he was nineteen he had won the 
permanent friendship and ardent admiration of a 
man who was then his tutor, Timothy Dwight, 
later the renowned president of Yale College, and 



i6 NATHAN HALE 

to the end of his long life a lover of his boy-friend, 
Nathan Hale. 

Another warm friend, a classmate, destined to be 
notable in future years, was James Hillhouse, 
later United States Senator, the first man to leave 
the stamp of beauty on his native city. New Haven, 
in the wonderful elms of his planting. 

In addition to these two noted men, many of 
Hale's warmest friendships were formed at college 
among the leading men of his own and of other 
classes. At least two or three of these were his 
companions in arms, to whom we may refer later. 
Of his scholarship, one sure test remains. At 
graduation, of the thirty-six men in his class, he 
ranked among the first thirteen. 

In one other important line Nathan Hale made 
a notable mark in college, namely, in his intense 
interest in Linonia. This society had been founded 
in 1753 *'to promote in addition to the regular 
course of academic study, literary stimulus and 
rhetorical improvement to the undergraduates," 
and to create friendly relations among its members. 
The organization lived a long and honorable life, 
and did a most helpful work among its members. 
Nathan Hale ¥/as the first in his class to become its 
Chancellor, later styled President. He was for 
some time also its scribe, and many of his entries 



COLLEGE DAYS 17 

in the Linonian reports are still "clear throughout 
and well-preserved" as is his signature at the end, 
after the passing of more than a hundred years. 

During his college course his name occurs in the 
reports of almost every meeting of the society. 
At one time he delivered ''a very interesting 
narration"; at another, "an eloquent extempo- 
raneous address." On various occasions he is said 
to have taken part in some of the plays that were 
frequently acted, and to have proposed questions 
for discussion. 

Besides taking part in the society and college 
exercises, he enjoyed frequent correspondence with 
a number of his classmates on themes of taste and 
criticism and of grammar and philology. 

As incoming Chancellor at the end of the college 
year of 1772, Hale responded in behalf of Linonia 
to the parting address from one of the graduating 
class. 

Hale's farewell address to the Linonians of the 
class of 1772 is preserved to Yale College on the 
society records. In reading it one must remember 
that the speech was made by a boy of seventeen. 
The dignity of the address, the assured ease with 
which he speaks, the sense of the Yale bond, as 
strong then as it ever has been, all show the only 
boyish thing about the speaker, namely, his sense 



l8 NATHAN HALE 

of the superiority of Linonia, then nearly twenty 
years old, to the struggling new society of ''The 
Brothers," less than eight years old. All this brings 
before us very vividly a boy in years, but a man 
in thoughts and aspirations, ardent and scholarly, 
and full of a noble ambition that looked forward, as 
do all ambitious students in their college days, to 
years of generous life. 

A few paragraphs quoted from various parts of the 
quaintly courteous speech will illustrate alike the 
youth and the maturity of the speaker. He said : 

"The high opinion we ought to maintain of the 
ability of these worthy Gentlemen" [the retiring 
members of the Society] ''as well as the regard they 
express for Linonia and her Sons, tends very much 
to increase our desire for their longer continuance. 
Under whatsoever character we consider them, we 
have the greatest reason to regret their departure. 
As our patrons, we have shared their utmost care 
and vigilance in supporting Linonia' s cause, and 
protecting her from the malice of her insulting 
foes. As our benefactors, we have partaken of their 
liberaUty, not only in their rich and valuable 
donations to our library, but, what is still more, 
their amiable company and conversation." 

["This is a fine portrait of Hale painted by him- 
self," says a friend of Hale to-day.] 



COLLEGE DAYS 19 

"But as our friends, what inexpressible happiness 
have we experienced in their disinterested love 
and cordial affection ! We have lived together not 
as fellow students and members of the same 
college, but as brothers and children of the same 
family ; not as superiors and inferiors, but rather 
as equals and companions. The only thing which 
hath given them the preeminence is their superior 
knowledge in those arts and sciences which are 
here cultivated, and their greater skill and prudence 
in the management of such important affairs as 
those which concern the good order and regularity 
of this Society. Under the prudent conduct of 
these our once worthy patrons, but now parting 
friends, things have been so wisely regulated, as 
that while we have been entertained with all the 
pleasures of familiar conversation, we have been 
no less profited by our improvements in useful 
knowledge and literature." 

Hale's direct address to the parting members is 
as follows : 

"Kind and generous Sirs, it is with the greatest 
reluctance that we are now all obliged to bid adieu 
to you, our dearest friends. Fain would we ask 
you longer to tarry — but it is otherwise deter- 
mined, and we must comply. Accept then our 
sincerest thanks, as some poor return for your 



20 NATHAN HALE 

disinterested zeal in Linonia's cause, and your 
unwearied pains to suppress her opposers. . . . 
Be assured that we shall be spirited in Linonia's 
cause and with steadiness and resolution strive to 
make her shine with unparalleled luster. . . . Be as- 
sured that your memory will always be very dear 
to us ; that though hundreds of miles should inter- 
fere, you will always be attended with our best 
wishes. 

"May Providence protect you in all your ways, 
and may you have prosperity in all your under- 
takings ! May you live long and happily, and at 
last die satisfied with the pleasures of this world, 
and go hence to that world where joys shall never 
cease, and pleasures never end ! Dear Gentlemen, 
farewell!" 

Not only in speeches but also in deeds Hale 
proved his love for Linonia. He is said to have 
contributed some of his own books to the library 
of the Society, and to have cooperated with 
Timothy Dwight and James Hillhouse in promoting 
its growth. In time the library owned more than 
thirteen thousand volumes. These three Linonians 
were always considered its real founders, and were 
so honored at the Society's centennial anniversary 
on July 27, 1853. 

Timothy Dwight, the first of that name to be 



COLLEGE DAYS 21 

president of Yale College, was, like Nathan Hale, 
a descendant of Elder Strong who founded North- 
ampton, Massachusetts. Dwight graduated in 
1769, the year Hale entered college. He then 
became a tutor and was a personal friend of Hale's. 
He was a teacher of extraordinary power and was 
made president of Yale in 1795. He was one of the 
most remarkable men of his time, molding the 
moral and religious, as well as intellectual, charac- 
ter of the college so that his influence extended 
not only over the whole state but, to a great degree, 
over the whole United States. He was a fine 
illustration of the great abihties that centered in so 
many of the leading families of the colonists. Such 
connections as this man add even a higher luster 
to the genealogy of Elizabeth Strong Hale, and 
lessen our wonder that a son of hers, while hardly 
more than a boy, could face the duty and calmly 
accept the responsibiHty that he felt rested upon 
him. 

As may easily be inferred, the Hale boys, Enoch 
and Nathan, were not forgotten by their home 
friends while making honorable records in college, 
and forming pleasant friendships outside the college 
walls — then the happy lot of all the best men in 
college — among the cultured families of what was 
then a small New England city. 



22 NATHAN HALE 

An instance of the friendships Nathan made in 
New Haven is shown by the words of ^neas 
Munson, M.D., formerly of that city. When an 
aged man he spoke in the warmest terms of Hale's 
fine qualities as he observed them when he was a 
boy in his father's house, and he treasured a letter 
to his father from Hale in 1774 which will be given 
farther on. 

Of home letters, happily a few from their father 
in Coventry to his two sons in college are still 
preserved ; these prove, as no words of any stranger 
could, his constant and practical interest in all 
that concerned them. They show us how an 
upright father tried to influence his boys' religious 
characters while distant from them, and at the same 
time they show the economies which even well-to- 
do fathers then had to exercise in providing for 
their sons while at college. The first letter also 
shows that Nathan must have entered college 
when fourteen years and three months old, having 
been born in June, 1755, and entering college in 
September, 1769. We here give the first letter, 
with all its quaint old spelling, and after it two 
others written during successive years. We may 
smile at their old-time expressions, but we must 
own to a sincere admiration for the kind and 
thoughtful father, so interested in his boys, and 



COLLEGE DAYS 23 

so solicitous concerning their health " after the 
measles." 

Dear Children: 

I Rec'd your Letter of the 7th instant and am glad to 
hear that you are well suited with Living in College and 
would let you know that wee are all well threw the Divine 
goodness, as I hope these lines will find you. I hope you 
will carefully mind your studies that your time be not Lost 
and that you will mind all the orders of College with care. 
... I intend to send you some money the first opportunity 
perhaps by Mr. Sherman when he Returns home from of 
the surcit [circuit court] he is now on. If you can hire 
Horses at New Haven to come home without too much 
trouble and cost I don't know but it is best and should be 
glad to know how you can hire them and send me word. 
If I don't here from you I shall depend upon sending Horses 
to you by the 6th of May, — if I should have know opper- 
tunity to send you any money till May and should then come 
to New Haven and clear all of it would it not do ? If not 
you will let me know it. Your friends are all well at Cov- 
entry — your mother sends her Regards to you — from 
your kind and loving 

Father 

RiCH^ Hale 
Coventry Dec^- 26th 

A.D. 1769. 

Dear Children: 

I have nothing spettial to write but would by all means 
desire you to mind your Studies and carefully attend to 
the orders of Coledge. Attend not only Prayers in the 



24 NATHAN HALE 

chapel but Secret Prayr carefully. Shun all vice especially 
card Playing. Read your Bibles a chapter night and morn- 
ing. I cannot now send you much money but hope when 
S"^ Strong comes to Coventry to be able to send by him 

what you want. ... 

from your Loving Fath- 

RiCH^ Hale 
Coventry, Dec^- 17th, 1770 

Loving Children — by a line would let you know that 
I with my family threw the Divine Goodness are well as I 
hope these lines will find you. I have heard that you are 
better of the measles. The Cloath for your Coat is not 
Done. But will be Done next week I hope at firthest. I 
know of no opportunity we shall have to send it to New- 
haven and have Laid in with Mr. Strong for his Horse which 
his son will Ride down to New Haven for one of you to Ride 
home if you can get Leave and have your close made at 
home. I sopose that one measure will do for both of you. 
I am told that it is not good to study hard after the measles 
— hope you will youse Prudance in that afare. If you do 
not one of you come home I dont see but that you must do 
with out any New Close till after Commensment. I send 
you Eight Pound in cash by Mr. Strong — hope it will do 

for the present — 

Your Loving Father 

RiCH^ Hale 
Coventry August 13th, 1771 

Some students of to-day in college with elder 
brothers might protest vigorously at the idea of 
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COLLEGE DAYS 25 

being fitted for the larger, though the younger 
might find some consolation in the fact that he 
would have plenty of room in which to grow! 
At all events, good Deacon Hale's kindly letters 
give us a very friendly feeling tov/ard him, reveal- 
ing as they do his love for his boys. The letters also 
suggest indirectly the happy home-coming of these 
college boys, riding thither on horseback over many 
miles, buoyed up by high spirits, college news, and 
the prospect of vacation. 

In their home, as time went by, they found the 
two new members of the family, their stepmother's 
daughters, Nathan to find in Alice Adams, the 
youngest, some of the happiest inspirations of his 
manly young life. It is pleasant to linger a moment 
and try to realize the pride Deacon Hale must 
have felt in his boys, and their delight in being 
once more home with him and with all the family 
circle. We can fancy them as they sat around that 
generous board — none the less generous, we are sure, 
because of the home-coming of the ^'Yale boys." 

Deacon Hale was a man of remarkable energy — 
^' a driver," in other words. As a rule, in the busiest 
season of the year he would finish his meal before 
the family were half through theirs, rise, return 
thanks, and be off to the field, leaving the others 
to resume their seats around the table. Alice 



26 NATHAN HALE 

Adams used to say of him, "I never saw a man 
work so hard for both worlds as Deacon Hale." 

One amusing incident was long in circulation and 
laughed over by many who did not know the ener- 
getic haymaker by name. As it really happened 
to Deacon Hale, it is worth telling as an example 
of the energy that has characterized his descendants. 

One haying season Deacon Hale hired a tall, 
brawny countryman, of uncommon strength, to 
help him house his crop. While in the field he took 
upon himself the task of "packing" the load, the 
hired man's duty being to pitch it on to the cart. 
The man began his work too slowly to suit Deacon 
Hale, who soon called out, "More hay!" This 
call he repeated three or four times, as cock after 
cock of hay was still somewhat lazily pitched up 
to him. Finally his tardy helper, becoming 
sensible that his easy v/ay of working was being 
rebuked, set himself to v/ork with a will equal to 
the Deacon's, and at last pitched the hay up so 
rapidly that his employer was unable to ''pack" 
it properly upon the cart. Very soon, therefore, 
to the dismay of both men, the whole load slipped 
off in one great mass on to the ground, carrying 
the Deacon along with it ! 

''What do you want now. Deacon?" shouted 
the Hercules by his side with a satisfied grin. 



COLLEGE DAYS 27 

^'More hay r^ instantly replied the discomfited 
Deacon, nimbly scrambling back to his place on 
the cart. 

Despite this little accident at the beginning of 
the afternoon, it is safe to state that a generous 
storage of hay took place before sunset. 

But happy as were these college days and home- 
comings, and rich as were the harvests gleaned in 
them, the four years in college halls sped swiftly, 
and in 1773 Enoch Hale and Nathan turned their 
faces toward the future ; the one to a long life and 
faithful Christian service, the other toward the 
briefest of mortal days, but to a service whose 
memory will not end till his college walls shall have 
crumbled, and the names of all its heroic sons faded 
from the earth. For even though stones may 
crumble, influence lives on. 

It has already been said that at graduation 
Nathan Hale stood among the first thirteen in a 
class of thirty-six. On Commencement Day, 
September 3, 1773, he took part in a forensic 
debate on the question, "Whether the Education of 
Daughters be not, without any just reason, more 
neglected than that of Sons." 

In "Memories of a Hundred Years" Dr. Edward 
Everett Hale says: "As early as 1772 there ap- 
pears at Yale College the first question ever de- 



28 NATHAN HALE 

bated by the Linonian Society. It was, 'Is it 
right to enslave the Affricans?' I think, by the 
way, that this record, bad spelling and all, is made 
by my great-uncle, Nathan Hale." These debates 
show how seriously, even in the colonial period, 
men were thinking of the urgent problems of later 
days. 

In the debate first mentioned, the others taking 
part in it were Benjamin Tallmadge, Ezra Samson, 
and William Robinson. Some account of Major 
Tallmadge's after life is given in later pages. 
Samson was, for a time, a clergyman, and then 
became an editor, first in Hudson, New York, 
and then of the Courant, at Hartford, Connecticut. 

William Robinson was a direct descendant of 
Pastor John Robinson of Ley den. He studied 
for the ministry and was ordained in 1780 at 
Southington, Connecticut. In the winter of that 
year — which was one of the coldest and most 
severe on record — he walked the whole distance 
from Windsor to Southington, about thirty miles, 
on snowshoes, to be installed as pastor, an office he 
held for forty-one years. 



CHAPTER III 
A Call to Teach 

College days behind them, Nathan, now eight- 
een years old, and Enoch pressed on toward their 
future. Here, to some extent, we part with Enoch, 
catching only occasional glimpses of him in a few 
straggling letters to his brother. It is probable 
that, as he intended to enter the ministry, he soon 
began his theological studies. In 1775 he was 
Hcensed to preach. Nathan, however, turned 
toward teaching as the next step in his career. 

In the meantime Nathan's love for Alice Adams 
had not prospered. An older brother, John, had 
married Alice Adams's elder sister Sarah, and the 
mother and sister of Alice thought that she should 
not wait four or five years for Nathan. Perhaps 
they decided that two intermarriages in one 
family were quite enough ; anyway, they induced 
Alice to accept the offer of a prosperous merchant 
of Coventry, Mr. Elijah Ripley, and a short time 
before Nathan's graduation her marriage had 
apparently terminated their personal relations. 

Nathan Hale was at this time an unusually hand- 
29 



30 NATHAN HALE 

some young man, almost six feet in height, well 
proportioned, with broad chest, athletic, as we 
have seen, and with a handsome, intelligent face, 
blue eyes, light brown hair of a rich color, and a 
winning smile. These, added to a musical voice 
and gracious manners, gave him a personal charm 
that attracted all who saw him. 

As a teacher he combined unusual tact and manly 
dignity, making his discipline in school as effective 
as it was reasonable. He also proved to be as 
skillful in imparting knowledge as he had been in 
acquiring it, and his success as a teacher was assured 
from the outset. 

His first school was in East Haddam, Connecti- 
cut. There was then much wealth and business 
activity in the town, although, to a man fresh from 
college and the city, it appeared to be a very quiet 
place, as one or two of his early letters indicate. 
Yet there too he did with all his might what his 
hands found to do, and soon proved that not only 
his work, but his social quaHties, were endearing 
him to new friends, some of whom remembered 
him with pleasure during their own long lives; 
one of them saying of Nathan Hale in her own old 
age, "Everybody loved him, he was so sprightly, 
intelligent, and kind," and, she added withal, 
"and so handsome !" 



A CALL TO TEACH 31 

He had many correspondents among classmates 
and friends. Sometimes he was stimulated to put 
his thoughts into rhyme by some poetical epistle 
he received. One such was from Benjamin Tall- 
madge, then in Wethersfield. 

Tallmadge had apologized for his muse and Hale, 
in pure boyish fun, with a fine disregard of whether 
he was invoking the muse or mounting Pegasus, 
replied as follows : 

"But here, I think you're wrong, to blame 
Your gen'rous muse and call her lame, 
For when arriv'd no mark was found 
Of weakness, lameness, sprain or wound." 

Then, invoking her himself, he describes her as 
if she were indeed the winged steed, 

"With me in charge (a grievous load!) 
Along the way she lately trode, 
In all, she gave no fear or pain. 
Unless, at times, to hold the rein." 

At last, on his supposed arrival at Wethersfield, 
he invites Tallmadge 's judgment on the appearance 
of the equine muse, thus : 

"Now judge, unless entirely sound 
If she could bear me such a round. 
It's certain then your muse is heal'd. 
Or else, came sound from Weathersfield." 



32 NATHAN HALE 

Before the end of the first term (October, 1773, 
to mid-March, 1774) in East Haddam, however, 
his work had aroused attention elsewhere, and in 
May, 1774, he took charge of a school in New 
London, called the "Union School,'' — a larger 
school and a more lucrative position than that at 
East Haddam. In it Latin, English, arithmetic, 
and writing were taught. The salary was seventy 
pounds a year with a prospect of an increase, and 
he was allowed to teach private classes as well. 

It will not surprise those acquainted with human 
nature that, as we will allow him to tell in a letter 
to a relative, he soon had a class of some twenty 
young ladies between the unusual hours of five 
and seven in the morning ! It does not take a very 
vivid imagination to picture the vivacity of these 
twenty young ladies, the becomingness of their 
simple but pretty gowns, and the zest with which 
each studied; nor, on the other hand, the ill- 
concealed, bantering interest of the big brothers 
of the same, — asking perhaps, now and then, 
with mock gravity, if mother thought Patty would 
be so prompt every morning at five o'clock if old 
Parson Browning were the teacher ! 

But whatever might have been the dominant 
interest of the young ladies, "Master Hale" was 
quite as practical in his teaching in the early hours 



A CALL TO TEACH 33 

of the day as with the boys in the later classes. 
An uncle of his, Samuel Hale, was for many years 
at the head of the best private school in New Hamp- 
shire, numbering among his pupils some of the 
leaders in Revolutionary times. To him, Septem- 
ber 24, 1774, Nathan wrote a letter from which 
we give the following extracts : 

"My own employment is at present the same that you 
have spent your days in. I have a school of thirty-two 
boys, about half Latin, the rest English. The salary al- 
lowed me is 70 £ per annum. In addition to this I have 
kept, during the summer, a morning school, between the 
hours of five and seven, of about 20 young ladies for which I 
have received 6s [shillings] a scholar, by the quarter. Many 
of the people are gentleman of sense and merit. They are 
desirous that I would continue and settle in the school, and 
propose a considerable increase in wages. I am much at a 
loss whether to accept their proposals. Your advice in 
this matter, coming from an uncle and from a man who has 
spent his life in the business, would, I think, be the best I 
could possibly receive. A few Hues on this subject and also 
to acquaint me with the welfare of your family . . . will 
be much to the satisfaction of 

Your most dutiful Nephew, 

Nathan Hale. 

A letter to Enoch Hale, containing allusions to 
the excited feeling in the colony at this time, runs 
as follows ; 



34 NATHAN HALE 

New London, Sept. 8*^- 1774. 
Dear Brother. 

I have a word to write and a moment to write it in. I 

received yours of yesterday this morning. Agreeable to 

your desire I will endeavour to get the cloth and carry it 

on Saturday. I have no news. No liberty -pole is erected or 

erecting here ; but the people seem much more spirited than 

they did before the alarm. Parson Peters of Hebron, I 

hear, has had a second visit paid him by the sons of liberty 

in Windham. His treatment, and the concessions he made 

I have not as yet heard. I have not heard from home since 

I came from there. Your loving Brother 

M""- E. Hale. Lyme. ^^ ^^ 

Nathan Hale. 

A letter from Hale to his friend the senior Dr. 
yEneas Munson, of New Haven, has been men- 
tioned. It runs as follows : 

New London, November 30, 1774 
Sir: T am very happily situated here. I love my em- 
ployment ; find many friends among strangers ; have time 
for scientific study ; and seem to fill the place assigned me 
with satisfaction. I have a school of more than thirty boys 
to instruct, about half of them in Latin ; and my salary is 
satisfactory. During the summer I had a morning class of 
young ladies — about a score — from five to seven o'clock ; 
so you see my time is pretty fully occupied, profitably, I 
hope to my pupils and to their teacher. 

Please accept for yourself and Mrs. Munson the grateful 
thanks of one who will always remember the kindness he 
ever experienced whenever he visited your abode. 

Your friend Nathan Hale. 



A CALL TO TEACH 35 

On one occasion, as Hale left his house after 
paying a visit, Dr. Munson observed, "That man 
is a diamond of the first water, calculated to excel 
in any station he assumes. He is a gentleman and 
a scholar, and last, though not least of his qualifi- 
cations, a Christian." 

The son of Dr. Munson (who bore his father's 
name), when an aged man, said: "I was greatly 
impressed with Hale's scientific knowledge, evinced 
during his conversation with my father. I am sure 
he was equal to Andre in solid acquirements, and 
his taste for art and talents as an artist were quite 
remarkable. His personal appearance was as 
notable. He was almost six feet in height, per- 
fectly proportioned, and in figure and deportment 
he was the most manly man I have ever met. His 
chest was broad ; his muscles were firm ; his face 
wore a most benign expression ; his complexion 
was roseate ; his eyes were light blue and beamed 
with intelligence; his hair was soft and light 
brown in color, and his speech was rather low, 
sweet, and musical. His personal beauty and grace 
of manner were most charming. 

"Why, all the girls in New Haven fell in love with 
him," continued Dr. Munson, "and wept tears 
of real sorrow when they heard of his sad fate. 
In dress he was always neat ; he was quick to lend 



36 NATHAN HALE 

a helping hand to a being in distress, brute or 
human ; was overflowing with good humor, and 
was the idol of all his acquaintances." 

Young masters of schools, public or private, 
unmarried and attractive, usually rank next in 
popularity to other professional men, — ministers, 
lawyers, or doctors, as the case may be, — and a boy 
of nineteen, the object of as much attention as 
Nathan Hale must have received, might well be 
pardoned if his head had been slightly turned, in 
thus becoming the admired teacher of a large class 
of young ladies. One special mark of stability of 
character appears to have characterized this young 
man in a greater degree than is always the case at 
the present day. Detached as he was, as he sup- 
posed irrevocably, from the woman he loved, he 
appears to have carried himself with almost middle- 
aged dignity, and, what is not a little to his credit, 
even his intimate friends among his classmates 
could not, by the most delicate cross-questioning, 
draw from him anything suggesting more than a 
pleasant interest in any of the young ladies with 
whom he was thrown in contact. 

A letter that will be given in its proper place 
shows his courteous and cordial interest in the 
little city he left when he entered the army; yet 
it is rather a noteworthy fact that one of his class- 



A CALL TO TEACH 37 

mates, writing to him during his camp life, had to 
suggest that, as the young ladies he had taught were 
always inquiring when he had heard from "Master," 
it would doubtless give them pleasure if he could 
find time to write some one of them a note with 
friendly messages to others, to show that he stiU 
remembered them. 

Many young men would hardly have needed such 
a suggestion. But Nathan Hale, so far as we can 
learn, while given to warm friendships among his 
classmates, and to the cultivation, while in New 
Haven, Haddam, and New London, of the society 
of the best families, appears, from the beginning, 
to have taken life seriously. Disappointed in the 
love of the one woman for whom he cared, he had 
turned with sincere absorption to the work to 
which he felt himself called before entering on the 
theological course it is thought that his father had 
planned for him. 

There is further evidence of Hale's notable gifts 
as a teacher. Colonel Samuel Green, who had been 
a pupil of Hale in New London, said of him, in old- 
time phrase : " Hale was a man peculiarly engag- 
ing in his manners — these were mild and genteel. 
The scholars, old and young, were attached to 
him. They loved him for his tact and amiability. 

*'He was wholly without severity and had a 



38 NATHAN HALE 

wonderful control over boys. He was sprightly, 
ardent, and stead}^ — bore a fine moral character 
and was respected highly by all his acquaintances. 
The school in which he taught was owned by the 
first gentlemen in New London, all of whom were 
exceedingly gratified by Hale's skill and assiduity." 

A lady of New London who was for some time 
an inmate of the same family with Hale, adds her 
testimony : 

''His capacity as a teacher was highly appreciated 
both by parents and pupils. His simple and un- 
ostentatious manner of imparting right views and 
feelings to less cultivated understandings was un- 
surpassed by any other person I have ever known." 

He was, as we see, a successful teacher, and, as 
we learn elsewhere, had serious thoughts of remain- 
ing a teacher. 

Unexpectedly, however, events verified the truth 
of the old adage, ''Man proposes, God disposes." 
A great historical drama was to be enacted before 
the eyes of the wondering world, and events were 
ripening that were to form a great epoch in history. 

America was being led first to protest against the 
unjust exactions laid upon its people, and then to 
resist the oppressions that were being forced upon 
it. Gradually the idea prevailed that a taxation 
which might have been acceptable, if coupled with 



A CALL TO TEACH 39 

representation in Parliament, was absolutely in- 
tolerable without representation, and the Stamp 
Act in 1765 struck the first note of intense opposi- 
tion. Thenceforward the political clouds grew 
darker and the warning incidents multiplied. 

And yet, as a people, Americans were walking as 
if their personal plans lay easily in their own control. 
Scores of young men were fitting themselves for 
ordinary callings, Nathan Hale among them. His 
father's plans combining with his own appeared to 
be that he was to teach for a while, and then follow 
his brother Enoch into the ministry. As it proved, 
his days as a teacher were numbered. He was 
never to enter a pulpit, though he was to utter one 
sentence that, graven upon bronze or granite, will 
last while America lasts. He was to teach, by his 
last, unpremeditated words, and by an example 
more potent than any other in American history, 
what all generations of Americans must venerate 
— the sublimity of a complete sacrifice. 

Smoldering discontent on the part of the Ameri- 
cans, waxing stronger and stronger for a decade, and 
the aggressive course of action on the part of the 
British authorities, finally culminated in a sudden 
outbreak, as matches applied to gunpowder ; and 
on the 19th of April, 1775, the first blood of the 
American Revolution was shed. Settlement after 



40 NATHAN HALE 

settlement, big and little, learned the facts as 
rapidly as couriers on horseback could carry them, 
and the thirteen colonies arrayed themselves against 
one of the most powerful monarchies of the world. 
The story is too well known to need recalling 
here, save as it draws Nathan Hale toward his 
doom. Within a few days after the fatal 19th of 
April, four thousand Connecticut volunteers were 
on their way to Boston to help Massachusetts in its 
earliest struggle with the English. Ununiformed, 
undisciplined, straight from whatever had been 
their ordinary vocation, with whatever they owned 
in the way of arms and ammunition, they went 
hurrying toward Boston. Israel Putnam, re- 
nowned veteran of the ''Old French War," was 
plowing in his fields at Pomfret, Connecticut, when 
he heard the stirring news. Leaving his plow in the 
furrow, he hastened to his house, left a few orders 
for the management of his farm and the comfort of 
his family, and marched at the head of a body of 
volunteers toward the camp near Boston. We 
are told that, in some households, families sat up 
all night, the fathers melting their pewter plates 
into bullets for ammunition to be used by their 
sons, and the mothers and sisters fashioning for 
them, with all possible speed, the clothing they 
could not go without. 



A CALL TO TEACH 41 

On the arrival of the news from Boston, the 
people in New London at once held a meeting. 
Hon. Richard Law, District Judge of Connecticut 
and Chief Justice of the Superior Court, was chair- 
man. Hale was one of the speakers. 

At that meeting a company was selected from 
the already existing militia and ordered to start 
for Boston the next morning. This company 
Nathan Hale, with his keen sense of duty, could 
not then join. But, for a few succeeding weeks, 
in addition to his regular work in school, he did 
all in his power to keep alive the interest of the 
young men in the tovm concerning their duties as 
Americans. With his enthusiastic nature, and 
broad comprehension of what might soon confront 
the country, it is probable that his seriousness and 
his activity were never greater than during the 
few weeks intervening between his speech at the 
political meeting and his departure from New 
London to enter the miUtary service of his country. 

Of course his becoming a soldier would greatly 
interfere with the plans that his father had made 
for him, and he at once wrote home on the subject, 
stating that "a, sense of duty urged him to sacrifice 
everything for his country"; but he added that 
as soon as the war was ended he would comply 
with his father's wishes in regard to a profession. 



42 NATHAN HALE 

The father was quite as patriotic as the son. He 
immediately assented to his son's desires. In those 
days, however, correspondence could not be con- 
ducted so swiftly as at present, and some time 
must have elapsed before this matter was positively 
settled between the two. As the war went on, 
and doubtless none the less whole-heartedly after 
the news of Nathan's death had been received, Mr. 
Hale did ail he could for the comfort of passing 
soldiers. It is said of him that many a time he 
sat at the door of his hospitable home and watched 
for passing soldiers that he might take them in 
and feed them ; and, if necessary, lodge and clothe 
them. He often forbade his household "to use 
the wool raised upon his farm for home purposes, 
that it might be woven into blankets for the 
army." 

Anxious as had been young Hale to join the army, 
he appears to have deferred making any decided 
plans until he had received the necessary permission 
from his father. Having received it, he at once 
took steps for securing his dismissal from his school 
and his admission into the army. During the 
weeks of waiting it had become known that he was 
anxious to enlist, and a military appointment was 
waiting his acceptance. To secure his dismissal, 
on July 7 he addressed the following letter to the 



A CALL TO TEACH ^ 43 

proprietors of his school, — a letter that for a 
young man of twenty is as dignified as it is patriotic : 

Gentlemen: Having received information that a place 
is allotted me in the army, and being inclined, as I hope for 
good reasons, to accept it, I am constrained to ask as a 
favor that which scarce anything else would have induced 
me to, which is, to be excused from keeping your school any 
longer. For the purpose of conversing upon this and of 
procuring another master, some of your number think it 
best there should be a general meeting of the proprietors. 
The time talked of for holding it is six o'clock this after- 
noon, at the schoolhouse. The year for which I engaged 
will expire within a fortnight, so that my quitting a few 
days sooner, I hope, will subject you to no great inconven- 
ience. 

School-keeping is a business of which I was always fond, 
but since my residence in this town, everything has con- 
spired to render it more agreeable. I have thought much of 
never quitting it but with life, but at present there seems an 
opportunity for more extended public service. 

The kindness expressed to me by the people of the place, 
but especially the proprietors of the school, will always be 
very gratefully remembered by, gentlemen, with respect, 
your humble servant, 

Nathan Hale 



CHAPTER IV 

A Call to Arms 

The place ''allotted" to him was that of lieuten- 
ant in the third company of the 7 th Connecticut 
regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb. 
No doubt exists that Lieutenant Nathan Hale was 
the same Nathan Hale who had won distinction in 
all his college work, in his subsequent teaching, and 
in all the events thus far associated with his early 
manhood, with this difference ; he was now lifted 
to a line of service that in his opinion seemed the 
highest possible for him to follow, and no one 
who studies his subsequent course can question 
that in this following he found the loftiest consecra- 
tion thus far possible to him. Perhaps uncon- 
sciously he was to verify the poet's assertion, 

"So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, Thou must, 
The youth replies, I can.^' 

With no trace of merely personal ambition, but 
with that splendid power of absorption in duty as 

44 



A CALL TO ARMS 45 

in work, Nathan Hale followed in the steps of those 
devoted American patriots whose blood, so freely 
shed at Lexington, was calling upon their country- 
men to shed theirs as freely, should duty demand it. 

Dead almost one hundred and forty years, we 
still are thrilled by proofs of the splendid manhood 
henceforth to be so prominent in every remaining 
day of Hale's brief life. A few letters to friends, a 
fairly comprehensive diary for a few months, his 
camp-book, and the recollections of a few of the 
officers and of his body-servant, give a moderately 
complete picture of Nathan Hale for a few brief 
weeks, during which time he had been doing all in 
his power to perfect himself and the men under 
him in the duties of soldiers. 

By the middle of September the Connecticut 
troops, having received orders from General 
Washington to proceed to the camp near Boston, 
the 7th Regiment, containing Lieutenant Hale's 
company, went to the spot appointed, remaining 
there during the winter, and leaving for New York, 
again by Washington's orders, in the spring. Of 
these intervening months, so momentous to the little 
army whose many members were impatient for the 
close of the war, Nathan Hale himself gives us 
vivid pictures ; of the work he was trying to do ; 
of the men he was meeting; of the religious life 



46 NATHAN HALE 

he was in no sense forgetting, and of his own deep- 
ening patriotism. Letters written to him show 
the attitude of friends at home, and their interest 
both in the affairs of the country and in him per- 
sonally. The following letter from Gilbert Salton- 
stall, a young Harvard graduate and warm friend 
of Hale while in New London, shows how fully 
the men at home, as well as those in the army, 
entered into the anxieties of the times : 

Dear Sir: ^^^ London, Octo. gth, 1775. 

By yours of the 5th I see you're Stationd in the Mouth 
of Danger — I look upon yr. Situation more Perilous than 
any other in the Camp — Should have thought the new 
Recreuits would have been Posted at some of the Outworks, 
& those that have been inured to Service advanc'd to De- 
fend the most exposed Places — But all Things are con- 
certed, and ordered with Wisdom no doubt — The affair 
of Dr. Church ^ is truly amazing — from the acquaintance 
I have of his publick Character I should as soon have sus- 
pected Mr. Hancock or Adams as him. 

1 Of this Dr. Church, John Fiske writes: "Li October, 1775, 
the American camp was thrown into great consternation by the 
discovery that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the most con- 
spicuous of the Boston leaders, had engaged in a secret cor- 
respondence with the enemy. Dr. Church was thrown into jail, 
but as the evidence of treasonable intent was not absolutely 
complete, he was set free in the following spring, and allowed to 
visit the West Indies for his health. The ship in which he 
sailed was never heard from again." 



A CALL TO ARMS 47 

(Then follov/ accounts of an affair on Long Is- 
land Sound, and extracts from a paper two days 
old just brought from New York, describing army 
matters in the North.) 

I have extracted all the material News — should have 
sent the Paper but its the only one in Town and every one 
is Gaping for news. 

Your sincere Friend 

Gilbert Saltonstall. 

Another, also from Saltonstall, reads in part as 
follows : 

Esteemed Friend 

Doctor Church is in close Custody in Norwich Gaol, the 
windows boarded up, and he deny'd the use of Pen, Ink, 
and Paper, to have no converse with any Person but in 
presence of the Gaoler, and then to Converse in no Language 

but English what a fall . . . 

Yr&c 

Gilbert Saltonstall. 

Novr. 27th 1775 

A letter already referred to as showing Hale's 
interest in New London and its people, also his 
feeling as to camp life, is here given. " Betsey " 
was one of his pupils in his early- morning classes. 
We note the little touch of good-natured fun in 
the last paragraph. 



48 NATHAN PIALE 

Camp Winter Hill, Oct' 19th 1775 
Dear Betsey 

I hope you will excuse my freedom in writing to you, as 
I cannot have the pleasure of seeing and conversing with 
you. What is now a letter would be a visit were I in New 
London but this being out of my power, suffer me to make 
up the defect in the best manner I can. I write not to 
give you any news or any pleasure in reading (though I 
would heartily do it if in my power) but from the desire I 
have of conversing with you in some form or other. 

I once wanted to come here to see something extraordi- 
nary — my curiosity is satisfied. I have now no more desire 
for seeing things here, than for seeing what is in New 
London, no, nor half so much neither. Not that I am dis- 
contented — so far from it, that in the present situation of 
things I would not except a furlough were it offered me. I 
would only observe that we often flatter ourselves with 
great happiness could we see such and such things; but 
when we actually come to the sight of them our solid satis- 
faction is really no more than when we only had them in 
expectation. 

All the news I had I wrote to John Hallam — if it be worth 
your hearing he will be able to tell you when he delivers 
this. It will therefore not (be) worth while for me to repeat. 

I am a httle at a loss how you carry at New London — 

Jared Starr I hear is gone — The number of Gentlemen is 

now so few that I fear how you will go through the winter 

but I hope for the best. 

I remain with esteem 

Y' Sincere Friend 

To Betsey Christophers & Hble Svt. 

At New London N. Hale 



A CALL TO ARMS 49 

The next letter refers to the time when, on ac- 
count of their personal privations, the Connecticut 
troops were thinking seriously of withdrawing 
from the struggle, and returning to their homes : 

Dear Sir . . . "^^^ London Deer. 4th 1775 

The behaviour of our Connecticut Troops makes me 
Heart-sick — that they who have stood foremost in the 
praises and good Wishes of their Countrymen, as having 
distinguished themselves for their Zeal & Public Spirit, 
should now shamefully desert the Cause ; and at a critical 
moment too, is really unaccountable — amazing. Those 
that do return will meet with real Contempt, with deserv'd 
Reproach. It gives great satisfaction that the Officers 
universally agree to tarry — that is the Report, is it true 
or not ? — May that God who has signally appear'd for us 
since the Commencement of our troubles, interpose, that 
no fatal or bad consequence may attend a dastardly Deser- 
tion of his Cause. 

I want much to have a more minute Acct. of the situa- 
tion of the Camp than I have been able to obtain. I rely 
wholly on you for information. Your 

G. Saltonstall. 

To explain some of Saltonstall's references to 
the feelings of some of the Connecticut troops, we 
quote from Captain Hale's diary of October 23 : 

" 10 o'clock v/ent to Cambridge with Field commission 
officers to General Putman to let him know the state of 
the Regiment and that it was through ill usage upon the 



50 NATHAN HALE 

Score of Provisions that they would not extend their term 
of service to the ist of January 1776." 

Other letters to Hale from New London friends, 
among them one from an ofj&cer absent on furlough, 
speak freely of the anxieties of those watching the 
progress of the reenlistments, and the home recep- 
tion that would be given to any leaving the army. 

Another letter from Saltonstall reads as follows : 

^ „ New London Deer. i8th 1775 

Dr, Sir. ... ^ 

I wholly agree with you in y? agreables of a Camp Life, 
and should have try'd it in some Capacity or other before 
now, could my Father carry on his Business without me. 
I proposed going with Dudley, who is appointed to Commn. 
a Twenty-Gun Ship in the Continental Navy, but my 
Father is not willing, and I can't persuade myself to leave 
him in the eve of Life against his consent. . . . 

Yesterday week the Town was in the greatest confusion 
imaginable; Women wringing their Hands along Street, 
Children crying, Carts loaded 'till nothing more would 
stick on, posting out of Town, empty ones driving in, one 
Person running this way, another that, some dull, some 
vex'd, more pleased, some flinging up an Intrenchment, some 
at the Fort preparing ye Guns for Action, Drums beating, 
Fife's playing ; in short as great a Hubbub as at the confu- 
sion of Tongues; all of this occasioned by the appearance 
of a Ship and two Sloops off the Harbour, Suppos'd to be 
part of Wallace's Fleet, — When they were found to be 
Friends, Vessels from New Port with Passengers ye con- 
sternation abated. . . . 



A CALL TO ARMS 51 

A postscript runs as follows: 

The young girls, B. Coit, S. and P. Belden [Hale's pupils] 
have frequently desired their Compliments to Master, but 
I've never thought of mentioning it till now. You must 
write something in your next by way of P.S. that I may 
shew it them. 

Favored by copies of these letters by Saltonstall, 
one must regret all the more that so few of Hale's 
own letters have been discovered, ten being the 
limit. Within a comparatively short period, how- 
ever, some sixty more records — mostly letters 
written to Hale — have come to light, preserved, 
as it is now seen, by the same ^'orderly care " that 
marked his interest in all the correspondence of his 
friends. 

In them are expressed, in letter after letter, the 
affectionate interest and warm admiration of the 
writers. It is now said that Hale kept these 
letters with him down to the date of his tragic 
mission. We can easily imagine the glow of satis- 
faction that must have filled his brotherly soul in 
the few spare moments he could devote to these 
letters. 

Brief extracts are made from his diary, fortu- 
nately preserved for evidence as to his work and 
growing interest in the duties he had entered upon. 
The diary was found in the camp-book brought to 



52 NATHAN HALE 

his family by Asher Wright, Hale's attendant in 
camp before he left New York. 

In the diary, under date of November 19, 1775, 
this entry is made : 

"... Robert Latimer the Maj" Son went to Roxbury 
to day on his way home. The Maj' who went there to 
day and . . . return'd this even^ b* ac*^ that the Asia Man 
of War Station'd at N. York was taken by a Schooner arm'd 
with Spear's &c. . . . This account not creditted." 

A month after the return from camp mentioned 
above, Robert Latimer wrote to Captain Hale, 
his former teacher, the following interesting and 
diverting letter : 

Dr Sir, 

As I think myself under the greatest obligations to you 
for your care and kindness to me, I should think myself 
very ungrateful if I neglected any oppertunity of expressing 
my gratitude to you for the same. And I rely on that 
goodness, I have so often experienc'd to overlook the de- 
ficiencies in my Letter, which I am sensible will be many 
as maturity of Judgment is wanting, and tho' I have been 
so happy as to be favour'd with your instructions, you can't 
Sir, expect a finish'd letter from one who has as yet practis'd 
but very little this way, especially with persons of your nice 
discernment. 

Sir, I have had the pleasure of hearing by the soldiers, 
which is come home, that you are in health, tho' likely to 
be deserted by all the men you carried down with you, 



A CALL TO ARMS 53 

which I am very sorry for, as I think no man of any spirit 
would desert a cause in which, we are all so deeply inter- 
ested. I am sure was my Mammy willing I think I 
should prefer being with you, to all the pleasures which 
the company of my Relations Can afford me. 

I am Sir with respect y*" Sincere friend 
& very H'ble S* 
Dec^'" 20th 1775 — Rob't Latimer 

P. S. My Mammy and aunt Lamb presents Complim*' 
My Mammy would have wrote, but being very busy, tho't 
my writing would be sufficient — my respects to Cap* Hull. 
Addressed to Capt. Hale. 

Here is a second letter from the same ardent 
friend of Captain Hale. His admiration for his 
former teacher is evident in every line. 

Dfat? Sit? "^^^ LONDON March 5th 1776 

as my letter meet with such kind reception from you, 
I still continue writing & hope that the desire I have of im- 
proving, added to the pleasure, I take in hearing often 
from so good a friend, will sufficiently excuse me for writing 
so often — I Rec*^ your kind letter S' pr the post & cant 
deny but your approbation, of my writing, gives me the 
greatest pleasure, & should be afraid of its rais^ my pride ; 
did I not consider that your intention in praising my poor 
performance, must be with a design, of raising in me an 
ambition, to endeavour to deserve your praise — & I hope 
that instructions convey'd in such an agreeable manner, 
will not, be thrown away upon me — You write S'^ that you 
have got another Fifer, & a very good one too, as I hear. 



54 NATHAN HALE 

Which I am very Glad to hear, tho' I sincerely wish I was 
in his Place — 

Have not any News. 

So will Conclude — I am S' 
with Respect Y^ friend & S't, Robert Latimer 

P. S. My Mammy & Aunt 

Present Comp*^ &c — 
Capt. Hale. 

Only one thought dims the pleasure with which 
we read these two letters, — • the consciousness of 
the depth of distress that must have filled that loyal 
boy's heart to overflowing when he learned of the 
tragic death of his hero friend. 

Two notable records from Captain Hale's diary 
are these : 

November 6. It is of the utmost importance that an 
officer should be anxious to know his duty, but of greater 
that he should carefully perform what he does know. The 
present irregular state of the army is owing to a capital 
neglect in both of these. 

November 7. Studied ye best method of forming a 
Reg't for a review, of arraying the Companies, also of 
marching round ye reviewing Officer. A man ought never 
to lose a moment's time. If he put off a thing from one 
minute to the next, his reluctance is but increased. 

Later in November, when the men in his com- 
pany were unwilling to reenlist, this notable entry 
was made, signed with his full name : 



A CALL TO ARMS 55 

28, Tuesday. Promised the men if they would tarry 
another month, they should have my wages for that time. 

Nathan Hale. 

These brief quotations, proving as they do Hale's 
intense devotion to duty, and his practical efforts 
to hold his men to their duty, show how clearly he 
understood the tremendous responsibility resting 
upon the commander-in-chief as given in Washing- 
ton's own words in letters to friends and to Con- 
gress, soon to be quoted ; and that, known or 
unknown to Washington, there were men among 
his officers fully aware of the condition of the army, 
and as anxious to serve it as was their magnificent 
leader. 

We here quote from Washington's letters; the 
first one was written to a friend : 

I know the unhappy predicament in which I stand; I 
know that much is expected of me; I know that without 
men, without arms, without ammunition, without anything 
fit for the accommodation of a soldier, little is to be done, 
and what is mortifying, I know that I cannot stand justified 
to the world without exposing my own weakness, and in- 
juring the cause, by declaring my wants which I am de- 
termined not to do farther than unavoidable necessity 
brings every man acquainted with them. My situation is 
so irksome to me at times, that if I did not consult the 
public good more than my own tranquillity, I should long 
ere this have put everything on the cast of a die. So far 



56 NATHAN HALE 

from my having an army of twenty thousand men, well 
armed, I have been here with less than half that number, 
including sick, furloughed, and on command; and those 
neither armed nor clothed as they should be. In short, 
my situation has been such, that I have been obliged to 
conceal it from my own officers. 

The second letter was written to Congress : 

To make men well acquainted with the duties of a 
soldier, requires time. To bring them under proper dis- 
cipHne and subordination, not only requires time, but is a 
work of great difficulty; and in this army where there is 
so httle distinction between officers and soldiers, requires 
an uncommon degree of attention. To expect, then, the 
same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from 
veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did, and perhaps 
never will happen. 

On the 23d of December, 1775, Hale began his 
first and only trip to Connecticut for the sake of 
securing additional enlistments. If on this one 
visit home he became engaged — as some have 
believed — to the woman he had so long loved, 
now a widow of about nineteen, Alice Adams 
Ripley, we may infer that love brightened his 
embassy even though patriotism inspired it. No 
record remains of the glorified hours he may have 
spent in Coventry. We have good reason to be- 
lieve that, if he survived the war, he expected to 



A CALL TO ARMS 57 

marry the woman he had so faithfully loved. 
After a few brief days in his home, he left it, never 
to return, speeding on his way to serve his coun- 
try's needs. 

If this new zest entered his life at this time, we 
can easily imagine as he fared on, striving to arouse 
his countrymen to their duty as patriots, that the 
happiest hours of his life were urging him forward 
to the most perfect service he could render in the 
present, and to unlimited hopes and ambitions for 
the future he might well expect was awaiting him. 
Crowned by human love, and with unlimited op- 
portunities to serve his country, who can tell by 
what *' vision splendid" he was ''on his way at- 
tended"? Who can help rejoicing that such days, 
brief as they were, and uplifting as they must have 
been, were given to this man, now past twenty? 

Details concerning that trip are scanty. We 
know for a certainty that, starting from camp 
December 23, 1775, he returned to it the last week 
in January, 1776, having been in New London 
and other places seeking recruits, and going back 
with the recruits he himself had secured, joined 
by others coming from the various towns in 
Connecticut, and all heading toward the camp 
around Boston. 

He received his commission as captain in the 



58 NATHAN HALE 

new army in January, being still in Colonel Webb's 
regiment, which now became the Nineteenth of the 
Continental Army. For a few weeks he followed 
the routine of his earUer months there, doing all 
that was possible to assist his brother officers in 
perfecting the discipHne of the raw troops, deepen- 
ing their patriotism, and proving himself a soldier 
as devoid of fear as he was rich in all manly quali- 
ties. Not a word of regret can be found in his 
diary. Acknowledging in a letter to a former 
pupil, Miss Betsey Christophers of New London, 
that the novelty and glamour of camp life had worn 
off, he asserts, with intense ardor, that nothing 
would tempt him to "accept a furlough" or shrink 
in any manner from any of his duties as a soldier. 
And so the weeks passed on. 

During the winter heavy cannon from Fort 
Ticonderoga had been brought through the snows 
over the Green Mountains. The cannon were 
placed on Dorchester Heights which commanded 
the British camp, thus compelHng the British 
general to choose between attacking the American 
army and evacuating the city. In a letter written 
in April, 1776, to his half-brother, John Augus- 
tine, Washington wrote thus regarding this time : 

The enemy . . . apprehending great annoyance from 
our new works, resolved upon a retreat, and accordingly, 



A CALL TO ARMS ' 59 

on the 17th (March) embarked in as much hurry, precipi- 
tation and confusion as ever troops did . . . leaving the 
King's propert}^ in Boston to the amount, as is supposed, 
of thirty or forty thousand pounds in provisions and stores. 

Washington's victory in this maneuver, his first 
great success, tremendously cheered the hearts of 
all patriotic Americans. Congress gave him a vote 
of thanks, also a gold medal — ^''the first in the 
history of independent America" — in commemora- 
tion of the event. Here again we catch a glimpse 
of the delight that must have thrilled the hearts of 
all his officers, not least among them that of Nathan 
Hale. But Washington, proving himself in these 
earlier events, as he was to, year after year, through 
successive discouragements, ''the first in war," 
turned toward New York as his next base. 



CHAPTER V 

Hale's Zeal as a Soldier 

In the letter just quoted, Washington wrote 
further : 

"Whither they [the enemy] are now bound, ... I know 
not, but as New York and Hudson's River are the most 
important objects they can have in view . . . therefore as 
soon as they embarked, I detached a brigade of six regi- 
ments to that government and when they sailed another 
brigade composed of the same number, and tomorrow an- 
other brigade of five regiments will march. In a day or 
two more, I shall follow myself, and be in New York 
ready to receive all but the first." 

Uncertain as to his power to hold New York, 
Washington promptly took the next step that ap- 
peared open to him, carrying in his heart a heavy 
weight of care, and realizing, as perhaps no other 
man did, that only divine assistance could give 
him final success. He was bent upon a desperate 
mission, but to it, with subKme patience, he gave 
every energy of his masterly mirid, and the entire 
consecration of all that he possessed. 

Well was it for him that the power which con- 
60 



HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER 6i 

trols nations was quietly working with him. Well, 
also, that in his army were men ready for any en- 
terprise of danger, for any sacrifice that duty 
might demand. 

Washington proceeded to New York, to ultimate 
victory, to final and permanent fame. Nathan 
Hale went also, simply as a captain of a Connecti- 
cut company, — he not to victory, not to immedi- 
ate fame, but to something higher in one sense 
than either victory or fame, and to a service well 
worth a man's doing. 

Nathan Hale belonged to the first brigade dis- 
patched to New York — that of General Heath. 
After rapid marching, considering the state of the 
roads, ''Hale found himself" (March 26th) ''for 
the third time" among his New London friends. 
The next day they "embarked in high spirits on 
fifteen transports and sailed for New York." On 
March 30th the troops "disembarked at Turtle 
Bay, a convenient landing place" near what is 
now East 45th Street. Not far from that spot, 
within six months, Nathan Hale was to win a 
victory that time can never dim, even if, for a time, 
it appeared to have covered his memory with a pall. 
But in that landing-day no shadows were apparent, 
— only hope, and the zest inevitable in a soldier's 
life. 



62 NATHAN HALE 

A minor honor was soon to come to Nathan Hale. 
Late in 1775 Enoch Hale was licensed to preach. 
In the summer of 1776 he attended Commence- 
ment at New Haven, from July 23 to 26. He 
makes note in his diary of friends and classmates 
whom he saw ; also that he obtained the degree of 
Master of Arts for Nathan and himself. Of the 
latter his record is, ''Write to brother to tell him I 
have got him his degree." 

One or two more letters of Hale are extant from 
which only partial extracts have been made. One 
that was written on the 3d of June, 1776, we give 
with more fullness, omitting only some unimportant 
clauses. This letter has especial value as an illus- 
tration of the fact that most of us now and then 
have received letters that seemed casual in them- 
selves, but have, to our surprise and often to our 
deep sadness, proved to be farewell letters. 

It is not probable that, in the hurried days that 
followed, further messages were sent to his grand- 
mother, to his former pastor and beloved teacher, 
Mr. Huntington, and to his sister Rose and her 
family. In the late autumn of 1776, after they 
had learned his fate, and in the years that followed, 
one can easily imagine how precious seemed these 
appreciative words, embalming as it were the 
abiding affection of the man who wrote them. 




Nathan Hale 
The statue by William Ordway Partridge, erected in St. Paul, Minn. 



HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER '63 

Hale's reference to " the Doctor " also recalls the fact 
that, from the immediate family of Deacon Richard 
Hale, five m_en — three sons, one stepson, and one 
son-in-law (Surgeon Rose) — entered the Revolu- 
tionary Army; one son dying in 1776, one son in 
1 784, his health having been ruined while in the serv- 
ice, and one son in 1802, his life perhaps shortened 
by his exposures. Whatever else may have been 
lacking in that one family, patriotism certainly was 
not deficient, — the patriotism that does not count 
the cost to one's self, but the gain to one's country. 
The following is the letter referred to, written to 
his brother Enoch : 

Dear Brother, New York June 3d 1776 

Your Favour of the 9th of May and another written at 
Norwich I have received — the first mentioned one the 19th 
of May ult. 

You complain of my neglecting you — It is not, I ac- 
knowledge, wholly without reason — at the same time I am 
conscious to have written to you more than once or twice 
within this half year. Perhaps my letters have miscarried. 

Continuance or removal here depends wholly upon the 
operations of the war. 

It gives pleasure to every friend of his country to observe 
the health which prevails in our army. Dr. Eli (Surgeon 
of our Regt.) told me a few days since, there was not a man 
in our Regt. but might upon occasion go out with his Fire- 
lock. Much the same is said of other Regiments. 



64 NATHAN HALE 

The army is improving in discipline, and it is hoped will 
soon be able to meet the enemy at any kind of play. My 
company which at first was small, is now increased to 
eighty and there is a sergeant recruiting who, I hope, has 
got the other ten which completes the company. We are 
hardly able to judge as to the numbers the British army for 
the Summer is to consist of — undoubtedly sufficient to 
cause us too much bloodshed. 

I had written you a complete letter in answer to your 
last, but missed the opportunity of sending it. 

This will find you in Coventry — if so remember me to 
all my friends — particularly belonging to the Family. 
Forget not frequently to visit and strongly to represent my 
duty to our good Grandmother Strong. Has she not 
repeatedly favored us with her tender, most important 
advice? The natural Tie is sufficient, but increased by so 
much goodness, our gratitude cannot be too sensible. 

I always with respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall 
write to him if time admits. Pay Mr. Wright a visit for 
me. Tell him Asher is well — he has for some time lived 
with me as a waiter. . . . Asher this moment told me that 
our brother Joseph Adams was here yesterday to see me, 
when I happened to be out of the way. He is in Col. 
Parson's Regt. I intend to see him today and if possible 
by exchanging get him into my company. 

Yours affectionately. 
N. Hale. 

P. S. Sister Rose talked of making me some Linen cloth 
similar to Brown Holland for Summer wear. If she has 
made it, desire her to keep it for me. My love to her, the 
Doctor, and little Joseph. 



HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER 65 

As Washington had supposed probable, the 
English decided upon the occupation of New York. 
In July and August the largest army ever collected 
in one body upon ^.he American continent prior to 
1 86 1, an English army numbering nearly thirty- 
two thousand men, with a formidable fleet and 
large munitions of war, gathered at Staten Island. 
Washington, in the meantime, was occupying a 
portion of Brooklyn and a portion of the city of 
New York, fortifying each place and preparing to 
defend it to the extent of his abiHty with his small 
army, never so well fed nor so thoroughly dis- 
ciplined as that of the British. 

Human wisdom would have assumed that the 
British army would soon succeed in restoring Eng- 
lish control ; but the best-laid plans miscarry, and 
a power interposes that helps the weaker and 
hinders the stronger army. 

The EngHsh did their best to be ready for the 
coming conflict, and we know that Washington 
spared no pains in preparing for the worst that 
might come. 

On August 20, Nathan Hale wrote the follow- 
ing letter to his brother Enoch — the last letter 
that he ever wrote, so far as we know, to reach its 
destination. It shows that his heart was absorbed 
in the duties of the conflict he was sharing, and it 



66 NATHAN HALE 

also shows how wholly he was leaving the ultimate 
issue to a higher power. 

Dear Brother. ^ew York, August 20, 1776. 

I have only time for a hasty letter. Our situation this 
fortnight or more has been such as scarce to admit of 
writing. We have daily expected an action — by which 
means, if any one was going and we had letters written, 
orders were so strict for our tarrying in camp that we could 
rarely get leave to go and deliver them. For about 6 or 8 
days the enemy have been expected hourly, whenever the 
wind and tide in the least favored. We keep a particular 
lookout for them this morning. The place and manner of 
our attack time must determine. The event we leave to 
Heaven. Thanks to God ! We have had time for complet- 
ing our works and receiving our reinforcements. The 
Militia of Connecticut ordered this way are mostly arrived. 
Col. Ward's Regiment has got in. Troops from the south- 
ward are daily coming. We hope under God to give account 
of the enemy whenever they choose to make the last appeal. 

Last Friday night, two of our fire vessels (a Sloop and 
Schooner) made an attempt upon the shipping up the river. 
The night was too dark, the wind too slack for the attempt. 
The Schooner which was intended for one of the Ships had 
got by before she discovered them; but as Providence 
would have it, she run athwart a bomb-catch, which she 
quickly burned. The Sloop by the light of the former dis- 
covered the Phxnix — but rather too late — however she 
made shift to grapple her, but the wind not proving sufi6cient 
to bring her close alongside, or drive the flames immediately 
on board, the Phosnix after much difficulty got her clear by 



HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER 67 

cutting her own rigging. Sergt. Fosdick, who commanded 
the above sloop, and four of his hands were of my company, 
the remaining two were of this Regt. The Genl. has been 
pleased to reward their bravery with forty Dollars each, 
except the last man ^.hat quitted the fire-sloop who had 
fifty. Those on board the Schooner received the same. 
I must write to some of my other brothers lest you should 

not be at home. Remain 

Your friend &c 

Mr. Enoch Hale. Brother Na. Hale. 

Aside from this letter, the following brief quota- 
tions from his diary are all that remain to us in the 
handwriting of Nathan Hale. Till he lays down 
his pen for the last time we see him absorbed in the 
cares and duties of the life about him, fearlessly 
facing whatever remains to him of Hfe and service. 

Aug. 2ist. Heavy storm at Night. Much and heavy 
Thunder. Capt. Van Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of 
Colo. McDougall's Regt. killed by a Shock. Likewise one 
man in town, belonging to a Militia Regt. of Connecticut. 
The Storm continued for two or three hours, for the greatest 
part of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, and 
the sharpest I ever knew. 

2 2d. Thursday. The enemy landed some troops down 
at the Narrows on Long Island. 

23d. Friday. Enemy landed more troops — News that 
they had marched up and taken Station near Flatbush, 
their advce Gds [advance guards] being on this side near 
the Woods — that some of our Rifle-men attacked and 



6S NATHAN HALE 

drove them back from their post, burnt 2 stacks of hay, and 
it was thought killed some of them — this about 12 O'clock 
at Night. Our troops attacked them at their station near 
Flatb. [Flatbush], routed and drove them back 1}/^ mile. 

One of the facts most perplexing to General 
Washington was what appeared to be Sir William 
Howe's delay in making an attack. Indeed, to an 
outsider unfamiliar with military tactics, Howe's 
conduct resembles the cruel pleasure a cat some- 
times takes in tormenting a mouse that it knows 
cannot escape. The uncertainty as to what the 
next British move might be caused much anxiety. 
Remembering that Howe's force had arrived the 
last of June, one sees how leisurely must have been 
his preparations for attack, and how assured his 
hope of victory. 

The expected attack occurred on August 27. 
The Americans were defeated and driven within 
their works, their losses being great, especially in 
prisoners. The Nineteenth Regiment was held in 
reserve, but Captain Hull wrote that they were 
near enough to witness the carnage among their 
fellow-soldiers. 

The night after the battle the enemy encamped 
within a few hundred yards of the defeated Ameri- 
cans. On the 29th Washington decided upon a 
retreat to New York, and it was effected that 



HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER 69 

night. If the EngKsh had suspected that the 
Americans v/ere withdrawing their forces from 
Brooklyn, it is easy to imagine the carnage that 
would have ensued. So great was Washington's 
anxiety at this time that he is said not to have slept 
during forty-eight hours, and rarely to have dis- 
mounted from his horse. 

One account of the retreat is as follows: "A 
disadvantageous wind and rain at first prevented 
the troops from embarking, and it was feared that 
the retreat could not be effected that night. But 
about eleven o'clock a favorable breeze sprung up, 
the tide turned in the right direction, and about 
two o'clock in the morning, a thick fog arose which 
hung over Long Island, while on the New York 
side it was clear. During the night, the whole 
American army, nine thousand in number, Wash- 
ington embarking last of all, with all the artillery, 
such heavy ordnance as was of any value, ammuni- 
tion, provision, cattle, horses, carts, and everything 
of importance, passed safely over. 

' ' All this was effected without the knowledge of the 
British, although the enemy were so nigh that they 
were heard at work with their pickaxes and shovels. 
In half an hour after the lines were finally aban- 
doned, the fog cleared off and the enemy were seen 
taking possession of the American works. One 



70 NATHAN HALE 

boat on the river, . . . within reach of the enemy^s 
fire, was obliged to return; she had only three 
men in her, who had loitered behind to plunder." 

That opportune appearance of the fog must 
have seemed, to more than one devout heart, as 
helpful as some of the remarkable interpositions of 
Providence described in the old Biblical stories. 

Hale's company, with its many seamen, rendered 
effective service in this passage from Long Island. 
Every student df history, and especially of mihtary 
history, can recall certain decisive hours in momen- 
tous battles when some utterly unforeseen event 
has entirely changed the face of affairs, and given 
the victory into unexpected hands ; thus, a 
mistake in the understanding of a phrase used by 
his captors made Andre a prisoner, and saved tlie 
capture of West Point by the EngHsh; while 
Waterloo, Gettysburg, and many another decisive 
battle has hinged on seeming chance, — chance 
truly, if there is no power working for righteousness 
among the affairs of nations. 

The position of the American army, however, 
now appeared more perilous than ever. Two war 
vessels had moved up the East River and were 
followed by others. Active movements among the 
British troops were reported by all the scouts, but 
the enemy's designs could not be penetrated. 



CHAPTER VI 
A Perilous Service 

Writing of these events afterward, Captain 
Hull said, ''It was evident that the superior force 
of the British would soon give them possession 
of New York. The Commander-in-chief, there- 
fore, took a position at Fort Washington at the 
other end of the island. To ascertain the further 
object of the enemy was now a subject of anxious 
inquiry with General Washington." 

In a letter to General Heath at this crisis Wash- 
ington wrote as follows: "As everything in a 
manner depends upon obtaining intelligence of the 
enemy's motions, I do most earnestly entreat you 
and General Clinton to exert yourselves to accom- 
plish this most desirable end. Leave no stone 
unturned, nor do not stick at expense, to bring this 
to pass, as I never was more uneasy than on account 
of my want of knowledge on this score." 

Johnston, in his valuable ''Life of Nathan Hale," 
says: "If he [Washington] had been anxious to 
fathom Howe's plans before the latter began the 

71 



72 NATHAN HALE 

campaign from Staten Island, he was infinitely 
more so now. It was not enough to keep a cease- 
less watch across the East river. . . . Like every 
other commander in history, all through the contest 
he came to depend much on intelligence gained 
through the 'secret service.'" 

Stuart, the earliest reliable biographer of Hale, 
in writing of spies says: ''The exigency of the 
American army which we have just described, would 
not permit the employment, in the service pro- 
posed, of any ordinary soldier, unpracticed in 
military observation and without skill as a draughts- 
man, — least of all of the common mercenary, to 
whom, allured by the hope of a large reward, such 
tasks are usually assigned. Accurate estimates of 
the numbers of the enemy, of their distribution, of 
the form and position of their various encampments, 
of their marchings and countermarchings, of the 
concentration at one point or another, of the instru- 
ments of war, but more than all of their plan of 
attack, as derived from the open report or the un- 
guarded whispers in camp of officers or men, — 
estimates of all these things, requiring a quick 
eye, a cool head, a practical pencil, military science, 
general intelligence, and pliable address, were to 
be made. The common soldier would not answer 
the purpose, and the mercenary might yield to the 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 73 

higher seductions of the enemy, and betray his 
employers." 

During the war with the French and Indians, 
American officers had learned the need of trained 
men who could keep the commanders informed 
both of the movements and of the plans of the 
opposing forces. Washington had learned this 
unforgetable lesson in Braddock's campaign, and, 
as full commander and wholly responsible not only 
for the immediate safety but for the future success 
of his little army, he realized the necessity of ob- 
taining the most accurate information possible. 

A corps collected from the best men in the army 
was organized, and its command was given to 
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton. He had 
gained experience as a ranger in the French and 
Indian War, and was noted for his coolness, skill, and 
bravery at Bunker Hill. One hundred and fifty 
men and twenty officers were considered sufficient 
for the work assigned to this special corps, known 
as Knowlton's Rangers. They were divided into 
four companies. Two of the captains of these men 
were chosen from Knowlton's own regiment; the 
other two — one of them Nathan Hale — were 
from other companies. There can be little doubt 
that Nathan Hale was proud of his enrollment in 
this brave corps. 



74 



NATHAN HALE 



After Hale's services were ended, one brief 
record remained of "moneys due to the Company 
of Rangers commanded late by Captain Hale." 
After the ist of September, about which time this 
company of Rangers was organized, it was con- 
stantly on duty wherever its services were required, 
and one can easily imagine Nathan Hale's enthusi- 
asm in his enlarged duties. 

Knowlton spoke to some of his officers of the 
wishes of the commanding general for some one to 
enter upon this special secret service, — wishes that 
so appealed to Hale that he at once seriously con- 
sidered offering himself for the hazardous under- 
taking. 

Captain Hull, two years his senior in age, and one 
year in advance of him in Yale, a close friend while 
in college and during their subsequent days, shall 
describe the personal interview between himself and 
Captain Hale in regard to this matter. It is said 
that many remonstrated with Hale at his decision, 
but Hull's statement shows the arguments of a 
practical man against which Hale had to contend. 

In his memoirs Captain Hull writes thus of his 
last interview with Captain Hale : 

"After his interview with Col. Knowlton, he 
repaired to my quarters and informed me of what 
had passed. He remarked 'I tliink I owe to my 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 75 

country the accomplishment of an object so im- 
portant, and so much desired by the commander of 
her armies — and I know of no other mode of 
obtaining the information than by assuming a 
disguise and passing into the enemy's camp.' 

''He asked my candid opinion. I repKed that 
it was an act which involved serious consequences, 
and the propriety of it was doubtful ; and though 
he viewed the business of a spy as a duty, yet he 
could not ofhcially be required to perform it ; that 
such a service was not claimed of the meanest 
soldier, though many might be willing, for a pecu- 
niary compensation, to engage in it ; and as for him- 
self, the employment was not in keeping vv^ith his 
character. His nature was too frank and open 
for deceit and disguise, and he was incapable of 
acting a part equally foreign to his feelings and 
habits. Admitting that he was successful, who 
would wish success at such a price? Did his 
country demand the moral degradation of her 
sons, to advance her interests ? 

"Stratagems are resorted to in war; they are 
feints and evasions, performed under no disguise ; 
are familiar to commanders ; form a part of their 
plans, and, considered in a mihtary view, lawful 
and advantageous. The tact with which they are 
executed exacts admiration from the enemy. But 



76 NATHAN HALE 

who respects the character of a spy, assuming the 
garb of friendship but to betray ? The very death 
assigned him is expressive of the estimation in 
which he is held. As soldiers, let us do our duty 
in the field ; contend for our legitimate rights, and 
not stain our honor by the sacrifice of integrity. 
And when present events, with all their deep and 
exciting interests, shall have passed away, may the 
blush of shame never arise, by the remembrance 
of an unworthy though successful act, in the 
performance of which we were deceived by the 
behef that it was sanctioned by its object. I ended 
by saying that, should he undertake the enterprise, 
his short, bright career would close with an igno- 
minious death. 

*'He replied, 'I am fully sensible of the conse- 
quences of discovery and capture in such a situation. 
But for a year I have been attached to the army, 
and have not rendered any material service, while 
receiving a compensation for which I make no 
return. Yet,' he continued, ' I am not influenced by 
the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. 
I wish to be useful, and every kind of service neces- 
sary for the pubKc good, becomes honorable by 
being necessary. If the exigencies of my country 
demand a peculiar service, its claims to perform 
that service are imperative ! ' 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 77 

''He spoke with warmth and decision. I replied, 
'That such are your wishes cannot be doubted. 
But is this the most effectual mode of carrying 
them into execution? In the progress of the v/ar 
there will be ample opportunity to give your 
talents and your Hfe, should it be so ordered, to the 
sacred cause to which we are pledged. You can 
bestow upon your country the richest benefits, 
and win for yourself the highest honours. Your 
exertions for her interests will be daily felt, while, 
by one fatal act, you crush forever the power and 
opportunity Heaven offers for her glory and your 
happiness. ' 

''I urged him for the love of country, for the 
love of kindred, to abandon an enterprise which 
would only end in the sacrifice of the dearest 
interests of both. He paused — then affection- 
ately taking my hand, he said, 'I will reflect, and 
do nothing but what duty demands.' He was 
absent from the army, and I feared he had gone to 
the British Hues to execute his fatal purpose." 

Just how soon after this conversation Captain 
Hale left camp on his perilous mission, cannot 
now be determined. We only know that it must 
have been early in September, during the first 
week or ten days. He proceeded with Sergeant 
Hempstead by the safest route, and reached Nor- 



78 NATHAN HALE 

walk before finding a place to cross Long Island 
Sound. 

Sergeant Hempstead alone has furnished the 
few details of Captain Hale's final preparations. 
He had decided to assume civilian's dress, probably 
that of an educated man seeking employment as 
tutor among the Americans still Kving in New 
York. Hempstead says he was dressed in a brown 
suit of citizen's clothes, with a round, broad- 
brimmed hat. On parting he gave Hempstead 
his private papers and letters, and his silver shoe- 
buckles, to take care of for him. 

It is, we think, not an undue inference that the 
letters and private papers he left in Hempstead's 
care were all to be sent to his family. These doubt- 
less included personal letters to them, for no man 
such as we know Nathan Hale to have been would 
have faced a journey from which he might never 
return without some words of explanation, and 
possible farewell, to those he loved at home. There 
is one fact that all who beHeve in the sanctity of 
personal confidences and possible farewells will be 
glad to remember, — that not one private word 
from Nathan Hale to AHce Adams Ripley, or from 
her to him, has ever been exploited to satisfy the 
curiosity of those who have no right to share it. 

Hempstead left Captain Hale, v/ho, now fully 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 79 

committed to his hazardous quest, set forth on the 
armed sloop Schuyler with Captain Pond — one of 
the captains in the 19th Regiment — in command, 
across the Sound to Long Island. When he landed 
Captain Hale said farewell to the last American 
friend he was to be with, so far as we have any 
record. 

Assuming that he reached this point on or near 
the 15th of September, one or two other facts 
suggest themselves. It is known that the Declara- 
tion of Independence had been carried to the Ameri- 
can camp as early as possible after its announce- 
ment in July, had been read to the troops assembled 
for that purpose, and had been received with un- 
bounded enthusiasm. It is probable that both 
Colonel Knowlton, later in command of the Rangers, 
and Captain Hale, one of its officers, were present 
at that reading and joined in the huzzas. Singu- 
larly enough, neither one of these two men was 
a citizen of the United States for three months. 

Two months later Colonel Knowlton fell in the 
battle of Harlem Heights, on September i6th, six 
days before Nathan Hale's execution. Knowlton's 
last words are said to have been, ''I do not care for 
my life, if we do but win the day." 

From the moment of his leaving New York, the 
mind of such a man as Nathan Hale must have had 



8o NATHAN HALE 

solemn foreshadowings of the possible result, of the 
tremendous risk he was facing. Men do not grow 
old by the passing of years so much as by the endur- 
ance of great experiences, and in the few brief days 
that were left to Nathan Hale we know really 
nothing of his whereabouts, of what risks he ran, of 
how often he barely escaped recognition as a spy, 
where he slept, of any possible friends whom he 
may have encountered, or of any moment when his 
very life seemed to hang on the accidental glance 
of an enemy's eye. 

Finally dawned the 21st of September. Hale 
had fully accomplished his mission. 

There are conflicting accounts as to what occurred 
on the last evening of Nathan Hale's life, some 
going into minute details of occurrences that were 
assumed to have taken place. One with consider- 
able plausibility sa3^s that, as the time had elapsed 
which he had expected to spend among the British 
(at the end of which time a boat was to be sent 
across the Sound for him). Hale, having finished 
his quest, had entered a tavern kept by a certain 
widow Chichester. She was a stanch friend of the 
Tories, and her house was the constant resort of 
Tories and B ri tish men and officers . While Hale was 
sitting in the tavern, apparently at his ease among 
the men there assembled, som.e one passed him 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 8i 

whose face he thought familiar, — a man who 
glanced at him sharply and then passed from the 
room. Later it was said to have been his own 
cousin who betrayed him. Fortunately, there is 
not a word of truth in the assertion. 

Although Deacon Hale writes that his son was 
undoubtedly betrayed by some one, it appears to 
have been effectually disproved that he was betrayed 
by a relative — a cousin who, it is stated, had 
never seen him, and therefore could not have rec- 
ognized him. A much more probable rumor is 
that he was recognized by a loyalist woman who 
might easily have seen him before the American 
army retreated farther north on the island, and been 
impressed by his personal appearance and by his 
prowess in kicking the football over the trees in 
the Bowery. This feat Hale is said to have per- 
formed. 

The report goes on to say that a man suddenly 
entered saying that a boat was approaching, and 
that Hale, supposing this boat to have been sent 
for him, at once left the room and went to the shore. 
If there is any truth in this narrative, it is very 
possible that here Hale committed his one indis- 
cretion. In his joy at seeing the friends who had 
been sent for him, he may have uttered words of 
such joyous welcome that the ofi&cer who heard 



82 NATHAN HALE 

them must have known that this was some one 
expecting a boat, and presumably a boat from the 
opposite shore. At all events, it is stated that 
Hale, seeing his mistake when several marines 
presented their guns, turned to fly, stopping only 
when told by the officer to stand or be shot. These 
events are said to have taken place at Huntington, 
Long Island, about forty miles from New York. 
But more than a century after Hale's death a 
British Orderly Book was found, containing the 
statement, dated September 2 2d, 1776, that follows : 




This, with other knowledge obtained about the 
position of the ship by whose crew he was said to 
have been taken, gives reason for believing that 

1 A spy fm the Enemy (by his own full Confession) Appre- 
hended Last night, was this day Executed at ii o'clock in front 
of the Artilery Park. 

From an Orderly Book of the British Guard. Reproduced 
from the original in possession of the New York Historical 
Society. 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 83 

the arrest was not made at Huntington by the 
crew of that ship, but in the city of New York. 
The order proves also that, once apprehended, he 
made not the sHghtest attempt at concealment, 
nor any effort to escape his doom. The informa- 
tion gained by Hale's brother Enoch in New York 
supports this belief as to his capture. 

All that we actually know is, that he was cap- 
tured while attempting to make his way back to his 
friends, and that this must have been the sharpest 
moment in his experience. Before it, he had hopes 
of escape ; after his capture he knew that his doom 
was certain, and his splendid soul adapted itself 
quietly and bravely to the inevitable. 

That fatal night — the night of the 21st of 
September — was in many respects the most terri- 
ble that New York has ever passed through. A 
fire had broken out near the docks at two in the 
morning, and was spreading with fearful rapidity 
toward the upper part of the city, the blaze carried 
northward by a strong breeze. It looked at one 
time as if nothing could stop the conflagration, and 
that the whole city would be destroyed. 

For a time the enemy believed that the Americans 
had deliberately set fire to their ov/n city in order 
to expel the hated British. Later this was found 
to be untrue, as the fire proved to have started in a 



84 NATHAN HALE 

low drinking house where several coarse fellows 
were carousing. The fire swept on, destroying 
more than five hundred houses, one fifth of all 
the buildings then in the city, and was stopped 
only near Barclay Street by a sudden sharp 
change in the wind, which blew the fire southward 
toward the already burning district. 

Report says that the provost marshal was given 
authority by Howe to dispose summarily, without 
the delay of a trial, of any Americans found rushing 
about the burning buildings, assuming, of course, 
that they were intent on the destruction of more 
buildings, rather than on the natural desire of 
saving what they could of their own property; 
and that as a result of this authority, more than 
one hapless householder was thrown into his own 
burning home. 

Up to this point, the early or late evening of the 
2ist, there is more or less of unsolvable mystery in 
regard to Nathan Hale's movements ; but from 
the memoirs of Captain William Hull, Nathan 
Hale's college friend and companion in arms, we 
have what appears to be unimpeachable evidence 
as to Hale's arrest and being brought to General 
Howe's headquarters. We quote from Captain 
Hull the information he received from an English 
officer through a flag of truce : 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 85 

"I learned the melancholy particulars from this 
officer, who was present at Hale's execution and 
seemed touched by the circumstances attending 
it. He said that Captain Hale had passed through 
their army, both of Long Island and [New] York 
Island. That he had procured sketches of the 
fortifications, and made memoranda of their num- 
ber and different positions. When apprehended, 
he was taken before Sir WilHam Howe, and these 
papers, found concealed about his person, betrayed 
his intentions. He at once declared his name, his 
rank in the American army, and his object in 
coming within the British Hues. 

"Sir William Howe, without the form of a trial, 
gave orders for his execution the following morning. 
He was placed in the custody of the provost 
marshal. Captain Hale asked for a clergyman to 
attend him. His request was refused. He then 
asked for a Bible ; that too was refused. 

"'On the morning of his execution,' continued 
the officer, ' my station was near the fatal spot, and 
I requested the provost marshal to permit the 
prisoner to sit in my marquee while he was making 
the necessary preparations. Captain Hale entered ; 
he was calm, and bore himself with gentle dignity. 
He asked for writing materials, which I furnished 
him ; he wrote two letters, one to his mother and 



86 NATHAN HALE 

one to a brother officer. He was shortly sum- 
moned to the gallows. But a few persons were 
around him.'" 

He was condemned to die in the early morning 
of the 2 2d, but in the confusion prevaiHng through- 
out the city on account of the spreading fire, at one 
time threatening the whole town, Provost Marshal 
Cunningham must have been that morning very 
fully occupied, and it was late in the forenoon before 
he completed his preparations for Hale's execution. 

At eleven o'clock Cunningham was ready, and, 
as it proved, Nathan Hale was ready also. Quietly 
standing among the few who had gathered to see 
him die, and it is said in response to a taunt from 
Cunningham that if he had any confession to 
make now was the time to make it, Hale responded, 
glancing briefly at Cunningham and then calmly 
at the faces about him, ''I only regret that I have 
but one Hfe to lose for my country." 

For once in his life Cunningham must have been 
astounded. With no plea for mercy, no shrinking 
from the worst that Cunningham could do, this 
man, still almost a boy in years, had shown him- 
self utterly beyond his power — had lifted himself 
forever from the doom of a victim to the grand 
estate of a victor. One sharp, brief struggle and 
Nathan Hale was free — dead, but victorious ! 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 87 

Indefinite as are most of the details, there are some 
unwritten points that may confidently be assumed. 

That 2 2d of September was a Sabbath day, a 
day associated in Nathan Hale's mind with reli- 
gious observances; prayers at the family altar, 
readings of the Bible, and gatherings of his friends 
within church walls. Whether or not his family 
knew the dangerous quest on which he had ven- 
tured, he knew that he was not absent from their 
memories, and that the family were bearing him 
in their thoughts that Sabbath morning. No 
other day could have made that assurance so real 
to him, and this thought was probably one of his 
strongest earthly consolations and inspirations 
while he was awaiting the slow but relentless prep- 
arations for his death. 

No wonder that he bore himself '^calmly and 
with dignity," as Captain Montressor said of him. 
No wonder that he died bravely — seemingly with- 
out a tremor of soul. In his last words Nathan 
Hale, true and faithful in every relation and every 
act of his brief life, gave to his country more than 
his life, more than all the hopes he was relinquish- 
ing so freely for her sake. In one short, indomita- 
able breath of patriotism, he uttered words that 
will be forgotten only when American history 
ceases to be read. 



88 NATHAN HALE 

William Cunningham, Provost Marshal of the 
Enghsh forces in America, murderer and inhuman 
jailer, would have laughed to scorn the idea that 
any being, human or divine, could preserve Nathan 
Hale's last words for the inspiration of coming 
generations, yet a kindly British officer, Captain 
John Montressor, carried them to Hale's friends. 

Cunningham has left a record of brutahty un- 
surpassed in American history. He is himself said 
to have boasted that he had caused the death of 
two thousand American soldiers. We know that 
any reference to the prison ships in New York 
Harbor sets Cunningham before us as a cowardly 
murderer, starving men to death by depriving 
them of rations which the Enghsh suppHed for 
them, and which he sold, pocketing the proceeds. 
He stands alone on a pedestal of infamy. 

The letters that Hale had written and left, as he 
hoped, to be delivered to his friends, Cunningham 
ruthlessly destro3^ed, giving as his reason that 
'Hhe rebels should not know that they had a man 
in their army who could die with so much firm- 
ness." Though Hale's letters were destroyed, the 
Enghsh officer, John Montressor, aide to General 
Howe — a gentleman in whose presence we may 
safely assume that Cunningham, cowardly as all 
brutal men are, had not dared to maltreat Nathan 




From a print owned by the New York Historical Society. 

Copley's Portrait of Captain John Montressor 

The last man who rendered a kindly service or spoke a friendly word 
to Nathan Hale. 



A PERILOUS SERVICE 89 

Hale as he was known to maltreat other prisoners — ■ 
that very Sunday evening spoke of Hale's death to 
General Putnam and Captain Alexander Hamilton 
at the American outposts where he had been sent 
with a flag of truce by General Howe to arrange for 
an exchange of prisoners. More was learned when 
a flag of truce was sent two days later to the British 
lines by General Washington, in answer to the one 
on September 22. Two friends of Hale, Captain 
Hull and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Webb, were 
among those who went with the flag. 

Through these flags of truce — and perhaps 
others — were obtained all the positive knowledge 
that Hale's friends were ever able to secure ; but 
the unvarnished story, told by Captain Montressor, 
gave all that was essential to reveal to his friends 
his manly attitude when in the presence of General 
Howe, and his calmness and dignity when he was 
awaiting execution ; while his last unpremeditated 
but immortal words, in reply to Cunningham's 
taunt, proved to all his friends that he had died 
as he had lived — a Christian patriot, and a 
hero. 

We may suppose that Nathan Hale himself 
had not the remotest idea that anything concern- 
ing his death would ever be made known to his 
friends save that, detected as a spy, he had died 



90 NATHAN HALE 

as the penalty he had known would follow capture. 
The words spoken by Nathan Hale, as his last 
earthly thought, seem to prove that the thought, 
breathed from the depths of his fearless soul, shall 
Hve as long as pure patriotism thrills the souls of 
mortal men. 



CHAPTER VII 

Grief for the Young Patriot 

From Enoch Hale's diary, parts of which were 
first pubHshed by his famous grandson, Edward 
Everett Hale, we learn how the news reached the 
Hale family. Enoch writes as follows : 

" September 30. Afternoon. Ride to Rev. Strong's 
[his uncle] Salmon Brook [Connecticut]. Hear a rumor that 
Capt. Hale, belonging to the east side of Connecticut River 
near Colchester, who was educated at College, was sentenced 
to hang in the enemy's Hnes at New York, being taken as 
a spy, or reconnoitering their camp. Hope it is without 
foundation. Something troubled at it. Sleep not very 
well. . . . October 15. Get a pass to ride to New 
York. . . . Accounts from my brother Captain are in- 
deed melancholy ! That about the second week of Sep- 
tember, he went to Stamford, crossed to Long Island (Dr. 
Waldo writes) and had finished his plans, but before he 
could get off, was betrayed, taken, and hanged without 
ceremony. . . . Some entertain hopes that all this is not 
true, but it is a gloomy, dejected hope. Time may de- 
termine. Conclude to go to the camp next week." 

He afterwards wrote that Webb, one of Washing- 
ton's staff, brought word to Washington that 

91 



92 NATHAN HALE 

Nathan Hale, ''being suspected by his movements 
that he wanted to get out of New York, was taken 
up and examined by the general [Howe] and some 
minutes being found upon him, orders were im- 
mediately given that he should be hanged. When at 
the gallows, he spoke and told that he was a Capt. 
in the Continental army, by name Nathan Hale." 

To those who have experienced the long weeks of 
distressing anxiety that often fall to the lot of 
those whose friends are in battle, or carried prisoners 
to unknown camps, no words are needed to depict 
the anxiety among Nathan Hale's family until 
particulars of his noble death were finally learned. 

It is a solemn but perhaps a comforting fact, 
that the deepest human distress seems, after a few 
generations have passed, to have been ''writ 
in water." Bitter as must have been those early 
sorrowful hours, the only later reminder of the 
tears that then flowed is given in the statement that 
one who had loved him could not speak of him 
fifty years later without tears in her eyes. 

Of how many wept for him we can form no con- 
ception. Indeed, we should have pitied any warm- 
hearted girl or young man who knew him, and had 
shared his joyous young life, who could have heard 
of his tragic death without tears almost as bitter 
as for one intensely loved. 



GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT 93 

Duly Enoch Hale and his family learned all that 
ever will be known of the last days of their beloved, 
and now honored, dead. 

The following letter of Deacon Richard Hale's 
— good man and uncertain speller that he was ! — 
was written to his brother Samuel at Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire, a few months after Nathan's 
death had become known : 

Dear Brother 

I Rec*^ your favor of the 17*^ of February Last and re- 
joce to hear that you and your Famley ware well your 
obversation as to the Diffulty of the times is very just, so 
gloomey a day wee niver saw before but I trust our Cause 
is Just and for our Consolation in the times of greatest 
destress we have this to sopert us that their is a God that 
Jugeth in the earth if we can but take the comfort of it. as 
to our being far advanced in life if it do but serve to wean 
us from this presint troublesom world and stur us up to 
prepare for a world of peace and Rest it is well, the calls in 
Providance are loud to prepare to meet our God and O that 
he would prepare us. you desired me to inform you about 
my son Nathan you have doutless seen the Newberry Port 
paper that gives the acount of the conduct of our kinsman 
Sam^^ Hale toard him in New York as to our kinsman being 
here in his way to York it is a mistake but as to his conduct 
tord my son at York Mr. Cleveland of Capepan first re- 
ported it near us I sopose when on his way from the Armey 
where he had been ChapHng home as was Probley true 
betraie'd he doubtless was by somebody, he was executed 



94 NATHAN HALE 

about the 22°^ of September last by the aconts we have 
had. a child I sot much by but he is gone I think the second 
trial I ever met with, my ^^^ son Joseph is in the armey over 
in the Jarsyes and was well the last we heard from him my 
other son that was in the service belonged to the melishey 
and is now at home my son Enoch is gone to take the small 
pox by enoculation. Brother Robinson and famley are 
well we are all threw the Divine goodness well my wife joins 
in love to you and Mrs Hale and your children 

Your loving Brother 
Coventry March 28th 1777 Richard Hale 



For a while after Nathan Hale's death, in the 
crowding events of the Revolution, his personal 
friends appear to have been his chief mourners. 
One lady is said to have told Professor Kingsley 
of New Haven that she had never seen greater 
anguish than that experienced by Deacon Hale and 
his family when they heard of Nathan's death. 

What the news meant to his "good grandmother 
Strong" we are not told. For her, so faithful 
and unselfish in her loving, we can but be glad 
that if she went home all the earher for this blow, 
she must have gone all the more serenely ; assured 
that if the earth was the poorer, heaven was the 
richer, because the grandson she had loved so 
truly was there awaiting her. 

Mrs. Abbot, daughter of Deacon Richard Hale's 



GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT 95 

son, Joseph Hale, lived at her grandfather's from 
1784 till her marriage in 1799. Many years ago she 
wrote to her cousin, "From my earliest recollec- 
tion I have felt a deep interest in that unfortunate 
uncle. When his death or the manner of it was 
spoken of, my grief would come forth in tears. 
Living in the old homestead I frequently heard 
allusions to him by the neighbors and persons that 
worked in the family, much more so than by near 
relatives. It seemed the anguish they felt did not 
allow them to make it the subject of conversation. 
Was it not so with your mother? " 

Rev. Edward Everett Hale refers in a historical 
address to the fact that in his own early days the 
name of Nathan Hale was seldom mentioned in his 
presence. We of to-day can but wish that some- 
what of the luster from the radiant halo that was to 
encircle his memory and to grow brighter as the 
years pass on, might have comforted them. Yet 
each one of that sorrowing family has long since 
learned to rejoice that, as nobly as any martyr 
has ever died for his country, their lad went forth 
into the eternities. 

The poem which follows was published in "Songs 
and Ballads of the Revolution," collected by 
Mr. Frank Moore. It is not known when these 
verses first appeared, but they are among the 



96 NATHAN HALE 

earliest tributes to Hale after his death. It is 
thought possible, by some students of Revolution- 
ary history, that the lines may yet prove valuable 
in throwing light upon the manner of Hale's cap- 
ture and death, as they are probably based on 
accounts current at that time of which records 
have not yet appeared. 

Capture and Death of Nathan Hale 
(By an unknown poet of 1776) 

The breezes went steadily thro' the tall pines, 
A-saying "oh ! hu-sh ! " a-saying "oh ! hu-sh !" 
As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse, 
For Hale in the bush, for Hale in the bush. 

"Keep still !" said the thrush as she nestled her young, 
In a nest by the road ; in a nest by the road ; 
"For the tyrants are near, and with them appear. 
What bodes us no good, what bodes us no good." 

The brave captain heard it, and thought of his home, 
In a cot by the brook. ; in a cot by the brook. 
With mother and sister and memories dear. 
He so gaily forsook ; he so gaily forsook. 

Cooling shades of the night were coming apace. 
The tattoo had beat ; the tattoo had beat. 
The noble one sprang from his dark lurking place 
To make his retreat ; to make his retreat. 



GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT 97 

He warily trod on the dry rustling leaves, 

As he pass 'd thro' the wood ; as he pass'd thro' the wood ; 

And silently gain'd his rude launch on the shore, 

As she play'd with the flood ; as she play'd with the flood. 

The guards of the camp, on that dark, dreary night, 
Had a murderous will ; had a murderous will. 
They took him and bore him afar from the shore, 
To a hut on the hill ; to a hut on the hill. 

No mother was there, nor a friend who could cheer, 
In that little stone cell ; in that little stone cell. 
But he trusted in love from his father above. 
In his heart all was well ; in his heart all was well. 

An ominous owl with his solemn bass voice 
Sat moaning hard by ; sat moaning hard by. 
"The tyrant's proud minions most gladly rejoice. 
For he must soon die ; for he must soon die." 

The brave fellow told them, no thing he restrained, 
The cruel gen'ral ; the cruel gen'ral ; 
His errand from camp, of the ends to be gained, 
And said that was all ; and said that was all. 

They took him and bound him and bore him away, 
Down the hill's grassy side ; down the hill's grassy side. 
'Twas there the base hirelings, in royal array, 
His cause did deride ; his cause did deride. 

Five minutes were given, short moments, no more, 
For him to repent ; for him to repent ; 
He pray'd for his mother, he ask'd not another ; 
To Heaven he went ; to Heaven he went. 

H 



98 NATHAN HALE 

The faith of a martyr, the tragedy shew'd, 
As he trod the last stage ; as he trod the last stage. 
And Britons will shudder at gallant Hale's blood, 
As his words do presage ; as his words do presage. 

"Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe, 
Go frighten the slave ; go frighten the slave ; 
Tell tyrants to you their allegiance they owe. 
No fears for the brave ; no fears for the brave." 

The body of the Martyr Spy^ was never found. 
For many years there appears to have been some 
interest, but little knowledge, as to the place of 
Nathan Hale's execution. During the last one 
hundred and thirty-eight years, writer after writer 
has described his life and all the events connected 
with it as they are believed to have occurred; 
and, as was inevitable under the circumstances, 
some things have been written that the critical 
historian cannot indorse. 

Until near the end of the nineteenth century no 
reliable information, even as to the place of his 
execution, had been gained. The late Mr. William 
Kelby, Librarian of the New York Historical 
Society, *^an accepted authority on all subjects of 
this and kindred nature," is said to have under- 
taken to locate the exact spot where it occurred, 
and met with at least partial success. 

Writing on the subject in 1893 ^^ says in sub- 



GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT 99 

stance : When the British took possession of New 
York in September, 1776, after the battle of Long 
Island, General Howe occupied the Beekman house 
on Fifty-first Street and First Avenue as his head- 
quarters, while the army extended across the island 
to the north of him. The corps of Royal Artillery 
occupied part of the high ground between Sixty- 
sixth and Seventy-second Streets, where they 
parked their guns and formed a camp. 

Close to the camp were the old *' five-mile stone" 
on the way to Kingsbridge, and a tavern long 
known as '^The Sign of the Dove." The exact 
location of this tavern is shown from a survey of 
1783 as being west of the post road on Third 
Avenue between Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh 
streets. It belonged, with four acres of land 
attached, to the City Corporation. 

The extract already shown on page 82 is from 
an Orderly Book (discovered by Mr. Kelby) kept by 
an officer of the British Foot- Guards. Other 
entries read as follows : 

"October 6. The effects of the late Lieutenant 
Lovell to be sold at the house near the Artillery 
Park. 

''October 11. Majors of Brigade to attend at 
the Artillery Park near the Dove at five this 
afternoon." 



100 NATHAN HALE 

The story of Hale's confinement in the Beekman 
greenhouse at Fifty-first Street and First Avenue 
on the night of September 21, 1776, is generally 
accepted. Former stories of the place of execution 
are disproved by the first extract from the Orderly 
Book, while the others indicate the location of the 
Artillery Park. It therefore appears that Hale 
was executed upon some part of this common land 
of the Corporation of the City of New York, and it 
is probable that his body was buried there. 

The tract is now covered mainly by buildings 
devoted to educational and philanthropic uses. 
Possibly the dust of the Martyr Spy may lie in the 
grounds of the Normal, or Hunter, College. 

Other materials, found since Mr. Kelby wrote, 
confirm his conclusions and make Third Avenue, 
not far north of Sixty-sixth Street, the most prob- 
able spot of Nathan Hale's death. The noblest 
educational institutions in New York City could 
have no more appropriate foundations than those 
laid above the bodies of patriots who have died, 
not only for the freedom of the city, but for that 
of the whole land. 

For a time, as was inevitable, a pall seemed 
thrown over the memory of Nathan Hale, and at 
first only the love of his own family strove to com- 
memorate his life and death. A stone was erected 



GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT loi 

to his memory in the cemetery at South Coventry, 
near the spot where his father expected to be buried. 
It still stands there and has been declared to be one 
of the best examples of the lettering of the times. 
It bears this inscription : 

"Durable stone preserve the monumental record. 
Nathan Hale Esq. a Capt. in the army of the United 
States, who was born June 6th, 1755, and received 
the first honors of Yale College, Sept. 1773, re- 
signed his life a sacrifice to his country's liberty 
at New York, Sept. 22d, 1776, Etatis 22d." 

One by one were placed near his, his father's 
stone (his father died at eighty-five), and those of 
other members of his family. These graves are in 
a common burial lot near the Congregational Church 
in South Coventry where the family had worshiped. 

In November, 1837, the Hale Monument Associa- 
tion was formed for the purpose of erecting at 
Coventry a fitting memorial of the martyr-soldier. 
Congress was applied to for several years, but was 
slow in appropriating money to honor the dead, — 
strangely unlike England in honoring her martyrs, 
as will be seen later. 

Appeals were made to the State legislature, and 
Stuart, Hale's earKest biographer and sincere ad- 
mirer, used his influence as a legislator in securing 
an appropriation of twelve hundred and fifty dol- 



I02 NATHAN HALE 

lars. The women of Coventry redoubled their zeal, 
and by fairs, teas, etc., raised a sufficient sum, 
added to the grant from the legislature and con- 
tributions from some prominent men of the country, 
to pay for the cenotaph. It is a pyramidal shaft, 
resting on a base of steps, with a shelving projec- 
tion one-third of the way up the pedestal. The 
material is of hewn Quincy granite. It was designed 
by Henry Austin of New Haven. It is fourteen 
feet square at the base and forty-five feet high. 
It was completed under the superintendence of 
Solomon Willard, architect of Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment, at a cost of about four thousand dollars. 

The inscription on the north side is, *' Captain 
Nathan Hale, 1776" ; on the west, ''Born at Cov- 
entry, June 6, 1755" ; on the east, "Died at New 
York, Sept. 22, 1776" ; on the south, "I only regret 
that I have but one life to lose for my country." 

The monument stands on elevated ground. " Its 
site is particularly fine ; ... on the north it over- 
looks a beautiful lake, while on the east it looks 
through a captivating natural vista to greet the sun." 

With the planning of this monument began the 
revival of interest in Nathan Hale's short but 
splendid career that is still gathering strength and 
will eventually establish his name among those of 
the bravest American patriots. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Tributes to Nathan Hale 

When Captain Montressor told Hale's dismayed 
friends of the terrible doom that had befallen their 
comrade, it must have seemed as if all the influence 
Hale might have had in a prolonged life, all that 
could come to such a man, had been sacrificed. 
We must not blame them if the question involun- 
tarily rose in their hearts, ''Why such waste? 
Why was such an influence so permanently de- 
stroyed?" Curiously enough, many years passed 
with little special notice by the public of Hale's 
death. But the leaven of patriotism works, even 
though slowly, and step by step Hale was coming 
to his own. Little by little the memory of his 
sacrifice for his country, and the fact that he had 
left words that should glow with increasing splen- 
dor, took possession of those who had ears to hear 
and hearts to remember. 

Old Linonia in Yale did not forget the splendid 
boy, once its Chancellor, who died as he had 
lived. Linonia's records still bear, in clear and 

103 



104 NATHAN HALE 

perfect lines, reports his hand had written when 
he was its most assiduous member. Others might 
have forgotten him; Linonia had not. 

On its one-hundredth anniversary, July 27, 
1853, — Commencement Week, — the poet of the 
occasion was Francis Miles Finch, Yale, 1846, 
later Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. 
As poet, Mr. Finch of course recalled many former 
members of the society. He ended with a poem 
on Nathan Hale in which he held his listeners 
spellbound as stanza after stanza, magnetic in 
proportion to their truthful beauty, fell from his 
lips. 

There has been a further service to his country 
by Judge Finch. His own character has been 
graven into two different poems, — the one just 
referred to, and one that he wrote later. The 
latter poem had, undoubtedly, a powerful influence 
in causing our national Decoration Day to be 
celebrated throughout the United States. 

The story of this poem is interesting. In a town 
in Mississippi certain Southern women went on a 
spring day, soon after the close of the Civil War, 
to cover with flowers the graves of their beloved 
dead. The gracious and tender thought must have 
come to them that in the graves of aliens buried 
among them lay those as deeply mourned in North- 



TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE 105 

ern homes as were those they themselves had 
loved. 

Certainly no sweeter suggestion could have been 
more tenderly carried out than that which led 
these bereaved women to spread flowers over the 
graves of those who were once their enemies. 
Mr. Finch was told of this incident, and the lines 
he wrote show his appreciation of the '' generous 
deed.'' The poem, " The Blue and the Gray," did 
much to heal the wounds in both North and South. 

The two poems by Judge Francis Miles Finch are 
quoted here, the first with the drum-beat pulsing 
through it ; the second in musical, flowing lines 
that carry in them sorrow, loyalty, and the com- 
munity of a common bereavement. 

Hale's Fate and Fame 

And one there was — his name immortal now — 

Who dies not to the ring of rattling steel, 

Or battle-march of spirit-stirring drum, 

But, far from comrades and from friendly camp, 

Alone upon the scaffold. 

To drum-beat and heart-beat 
A soldier marches by ; 
There is color in his cheek, 
There is courage in his eye. 
Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat 
In a moment he must die. 



io6 NATHAN HALE 

By starlight and moonlight 
He seeks the Briton's camp, 
He hears the rustling flag, 
And the armed sentry's tramp. 
And the starlight and moonlight 
His silent wanderings lamp. 

With slow tread and still tread 
He scans the tented line, 
And he counts the battery guns 
By the gaunt and shadowy pine, 
And his slow tread and still tread 
Give no warning sign. 

The dark wave, the plumed wave ! 
It meets his eager glance ; 
And it sparkles 'neath the stars 
Like the glimmer of a lance : 
A dark wave, a plumed wave, 
On an emerald expanse. 

A sharp clang, a steel clang ! 
And terror in the sound ; 
For the sentry, falcon-eyed, 
In the camp a spy hath found ; 
With a sharp clang, a steel clang, 
The patriot is bound. 

With calm brow, steady brow, 

He listens to his doom ; 

In his look there is no fear 

Nor a shadow trace of gloom ; 

But with calm brow and steady brow 

He robes him for the tomb. 



TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE 107 

In the long night, the still night, 
He kneels upon the sod ; 
And the brutal guards withhold 
E'en the solemn Word of God ! 
In the long night, the still night, 
He walks where Christ hath trod. 

'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

He dies upon the tree ; 

And he mourns that he can lose 

But one life for Liberty ; 

And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

His spirit-wings are free. 

His last words, his message words. 
They burn, lest friendly eye 
Should read how proud and calm 
A patriot could die, 
With his last words, his dying words, 
A soldier's battle-cry ! 

From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 

From monument and urn, 

The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 

His tragic fate shall learn ; 

And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 

The name of Hale shall burn ! 

The Blue and the Gray 

By the flow of the inland river. 

Whence the fleets of iron had fled, 
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver, 

Asleep are the ranks of the dead : . 



io8 NATHAN HALE 

Under the sod and the dew ; 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Under the one the Blue ; 

Under the other, the Gray. 

These in the robings of glory, 

Those in the gloom of defeat. 
All with the battle-blood gory, 
In the dusk of eternity meet : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Under the laurel, the Blue ; 
Under the willow, the Gray. 

From the silence of sorrowful hours 

The desolate mourners go. 
Lovingly laden with flowers, 
Alike for the friend and the foe : 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Under the roses, the Blue, 
Under the lilies, the Gray. 

So, with an equal splendor, 

The morning sun-rays fall, 
With a touch impartially tender, 
On the blossoms blooming for all : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Broidered with gold, the Blue ; 
Mellowed with gold, the Gray. 



TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE 109 

So, when the summer calleth 
On forest and field of grain, 
With an equal murmur falleth 
The cooling drip of the rain : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Wet with the rain, the Blue, 
Wet with the rain, the Gray. 

Sadly, but not with upbraiding, 
The generous deed was done, 
In the storm of the years that are fading 
No braver battle was won : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Under the blossoms, the Blue, 
Under the garlands, the Gray. 

No more shall the war cry sever, 
Or the winding rivers be red ; 
They banish our anger forever 

When they laurel the graves of our dead ! 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment-day ; 
Love and tears for the Blue ; 
Tears and love for the Gray. 

On the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the 
evacuation of New York by the British — November 
25, 1893 — a bronze statue of Nathan Hale was pre- 
sented to the city of New York. It was given by the 
New York Society of the "Sons of the American Rev- 



no NATHAN HALE 

olution," a society founded in 1876 to perpetuate the 
memory and deeds of the war for American inde- 
pendence. The presentation was made by the 
president of the society, Mr. Frederic Samuel 
Tallmadge, the grandson of Major Tallmadge, 
Hale's classmate and fellow-captain. The statue is 
of bronze and is by Frederick Macmonnies of Paris. 
It represents Hale bareheaded, bound about his 
arms and his ankles, ready for his death. It was 
placed in City Hall Park where Hale was, for a 
time, supposed to have been executed. On the 
pedestal are graven his last wonderful words. 

During the exercises at the unveiling of this 
statue Dr. Edward Everett Hale said: "The oc- 
casion, I suppose, is without a parallel in history. 
Certainly, I know of no other instance where, more 
than a century after the death of a boy of twenty- 
one, his countrymen assembled in such numbers as 
are here to do honor to his memory and to dedicate 
the statue which preserves it, 

''He died near this spot, saying, 'I am sorry 
that I have but one life to give for my country.' 
And because that boy said those words, and because 
he died, thousands of other young men have given 
their lives to his country ; have served her as she 
bade them serve her, even though they died as she 
bade them die." 



TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE iii 

The day's celebration was concluded by a dinner 
of the Society. Dr. Hale spoke on this occasion 
also. He said in part : 

"Let us never forget that this is the monument of 
a young man — that he is the young man's hero. 
Let us never forget how the country then trusted 
young men and how worthy they were of the trust. 
It was at the very time of which I spoke that Wash- 
ington first knew Hamilton and asked him to his 
tent. Hamilton had already won the confidence 
of Greene. Hamilton was, I think, in his nineteenth 
year. Knox, who commanded Hamilton's regi- 
ment, was, I think, twenty-four. Webb, who com- 
manded Hale's regiment, was twenty-two. When, 
the next year, Washington welcomed Lafayette, 
whom Congress appointed major-general, he [La- 
fayette] was not twenty. And Washington him- 
self, before whom others stood abashed, had only 
attained the venerable age of forty-four. The 
country needed her young men. She called for them 
and she had them. It is one of those young men 
who, d3dng at twenty-one, leaves as his only word 
of regret that he has but one hfe to give to her." 

Although it is now known that Hale was not 
executed near City Hall Park, in some respects 
there could be no more fitting location for a monu- 
ment to him than this, perhaps the busiest con- 



112 NATHAN HALE 

flux of human beings that anywhere crowd this 
great city. Thousands pass this statue, learning 
from it their first lessons in American history. 
Hundreds have stopped, seeing this bareheaded, 
dauntless man, evidently doomed to die, to try to 
learn whence he came and why he stands there, 
appealing to the noblest patriotism — patriotism 
that must touch the heart of any man who knows 
the love of country. 

Since this statue was placed, memorials of various 
kinds to Nathan Hale have been erected in several 
parts of the country. The schoolhouses in which 
he taught, although not occupying their original 
sites, have been restored, and are in possession of 
patriotic societies. 

To-day Yale, endowed with buildings costing 
millions, is learning that stone and mortar, in 
edifices however beautiful, do not enshrine their 
noblest memories. 

Through a few friends of Yale, a statue of Nathan 
Hale by Bela Lyon Pratt has recently been placed 
near the oldest college building, Connecticut Hall. 
This building has been restored to the appearance 
it bore when Nathan Hale dwelt therein. Who 
shall say that the statue of the bound boy, facing 
death so manfully, will not prove one of Yale's 
noblest endowm.ents? 




Nathan Hale 



The statue by Bela Lyon Pratt. It is erected in front of Connecticut 
Hall, Yale College, in which Nathan Hale roomed. This statue accents the 
youthfulness of Hale. 



TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE 113 

Still another beautiful statue of Nathan Hale 
by William Ordway Partridge may be seen in the 
city of St. Paul, Minn. 

Happily, Nathan Hale's ability to die for his 
country is but one side of a Yale shield from which 
gleam the names of hundreds of her sons, who, 
doubtless as ready to die for their country as he, 
had they been in his place, have proved their 
power to live for God and for their native land. 
Everywhere, in all quarters of the world, the 
Nathan Hale spirit of unselfish devotion has in- 
spired the sons of Yale to the noblest service they 
could render ; and every man, young or old, who 
passes the statue of Nathan Hale will realize that 
hosts have lived lives inspired by the same splendid 
spirit. 

Nathan Hale himself went forth from his alma 
mater filled with the joyous hopes and ambitions 
that have filled the souls of many other men, all 
unconscious of the fact that the finest heroism and 
the highest self-sacrifice lay just before him, but 
conscious that he meant to be ready for the best 
that life could give him. He was ready ; and the 
best of life for him was the power to die as he died. 



CHAPTER IX 
Nathan Hale's Friends 

(i) Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D. 

A SOMEWHAT full description of the Rev. Joseph 
Huntington, D.D., is well worth placing among 
the friends of Nathan Hale. It was impossible for 
such a boy as Nathan to have been under the care 
of such a man as Dr. Huntington, first as pastor 
and then as his private teacher in his preparation 
for college, without having been strongly influ- 
enced by him. Indeed, scanning these old records 
of a parish of a hundred and fifty years ago, we 
cannot help feeling a strong personal attraction 
toward the Rev. Joseph Huntington. 

Few men more fully prove the claim that many of 
the early New England pastors were eminently 
fitted to lead their people heavenward and also in 
the practical development of their daily Kves. 

Dr. Huntington Hved a Hfe evidently inspired 
by the finest ideals, and also by shrewd com- 
mon sense, always so dear to the heart of a New 
114 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 115 

Englander. It is a pleasure to recall the story of 
this man's useful Hfe, and realize that besides the 
reverence almost invariably accorded to "the 
minister" in those days, he must have held the 
everyday affection and wholesome trust of his 
people. Year by year he proved himself not only 
their pastor, but a friend full of all kindly sym- 
pathies, never above a hearty laugh when mirth 
was rampant, or a sympathetic tear for hearts 
wrung with anguish. 

He was born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1735. 
His ancestors came from England about 1640 and 
the family ultimately settled in Windham. His 
father, a man of somewhat arbitrary character, 
had determined that Joseph should be a clothier, 
and forced him to remain in that business until 
he was twenty-one. His intellectual ability was 
thought to be somewhat remarkable, and his moral 
character so good that his pastor advised him to 
begin a course of study for the ministry. He com- 
pleted his preparation for Yale College in an 
unusually short time, and was graduated there in 
the year 1762. 

His call to be settled over the First Church in 
Coventry was received so soon after his graduation 
that we are forced to beheve that his theological 
course must have been brief. The parish in Coven- 



ii6 NATHAN HALE 

try had been greatly reduced in numbers. The 
meeting-house had been allowed to go to decay, 
and the religious life of the parish was in a corre- 
sponding state of depression. His ordination 
services were held out of doors, — whether because 
the assemblage was too large for the church, or 
because the building was too dilapidated, does not 
appear. The first thing Mr. Huntington did after 
his settlement was to urge upon his people the 
project of building a new meeting-house. They 
responded so heartily that in a short time they had 
built the best church in the w^hole region, having 
expended for it about five thousand dollars — a 
large sum in those days. 

Dr. Huntington does not appear to have been a 
laborious student. He had few books of his own, 
largely depending upon borrowing. But he had a 
remarkable memory and the power of so making 
his own whatever he read that his scholarship and 
his originahty appear never to have been ques- 
tioned. The Rev. Daniel Waldo says of him that 
he was rather above the middle height, slender and 
graceful in form, and that he seemed to have had an 
instinctive desire to make everybody around him 
happy. This, added to his uniform politeness, 
caused him to be very popular in general so- 
ciety. 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 117 

The Rev. Mr. Waldo adds that Dr. Huntington 
was fond of pleasantry and gives this instance : 

A very dull preacher who had studied theology 
with him was invited by his people to resign, and 
they paid him for his services chiefly in copper coin. 
On telling Dr. Huntington how he had been paid, 
he was advised to go back and preach a farewell 
sermon from the text, ''Alexander the coppersmith 
did me much evil." Many such anecdotes and 
repartees of Dr. Huntington were current in 
Coventry for years after his death. 

This brief summary of Dr. Joseph Huntington's 
hfe shows that the men to whom Richard Hale 
intrusted the preparation of his three sons for 
entering Yale was not only a Christian, but a 
gentleman of the finest culture. He was able not 
only to impart to Enoch, Nathan and David Hale 
the rudiments of scholarship requisite for entering 
Yale, but to inspire such boys with the keenest 
appreciation of courtesy, broad mental endowments, 
and a wholesome zeal for high pubHc service. 

The correspondence concerning the Union School 
in New London shows that Dr. Huntington gave 
Nathan Hale the necessary recommendation for 
the place. It is on record in Hale's diary that on 
December 27, 1775, the day after his arrival home 
from Camp Winter Hill, he visited Dr. Huntington ; 



ii8 NATHAN HALE 

and in one of his Nev/ York letters he wrote, ''I 
always with respect remember Mr. Huntington 
and shall write to him if time permits." 

Admitting that Nathan Hale's father and mother 
were his most important early friends, we beheve 
that Dr. Huntington, as pastor, tutor, and friend 
during the six years before Nathan entered college, 
may have stood not far behind the parents in deep 
influence upon his character — that splendid char- 
acter, destined to be one of the beacon lights of 
our country's history. 

(2) Alice Adams 

Stud3dng the lives of the founders of our republic, 
we are interested in noting the early marriages that 
so often occurred, and which seem to have been 
justified by the early mental maturity of the young 
men and women in the eighteenth century. 

With early marriage, large famiKes were the 
rule and not the exception; and eulogize the fore- 
fathers of New England as much as one may, no one 
at all familiar with the lives of the mothers of those 
generations can question the share that the fore- 
mothers had in broadening the lives and inspiring 
the characters of the husbands and sons in that 
early period. Nathan Hale showed the power 
of heredity, and AKce Adams, the woman he is 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 119 

said to have loved, proved well that she too had 
come of no unworthy stock. 

It has been given few women to be so worthily 
loved as was Alice Adams, from the time we catch 
our first glimpse of her till the last, in her eighty- 
ninth year. She was born in June, 1757. Her 
mother married Deacon Hale when Alice was in 
her thirteenth year. We do not know when Alice 
first met Nathan Hale ; but we do know that while 
both were very young they found out that they 
loved each other, and proceeded to engage them- 
selves without consulting their eiders. Nathan 
had several years of work preparatory to his pro- 
fession still before him, and, acting as they sup- 
posed in the best interests of both the boy and the 
girl, the mother and elder sister Sarah promptly 
discouraged the engagement and it was broken. 

In February, 1773, while Nathan was still at 
Yale and before she was sixteen, Alice was married 
to Elijah Ripley, a prosperous merchant at Coven- 
try. Within two years Mr. Ripley died, aged 
twenty-eight, leaving behind him a Kttle son, also 
named Elijah, who died in his second year. 

After Mr. Ripley's death, Mrs. Ripley with her 
baby boy returned to Deacon Hale's home almost 
as an adopted daughter, comfortably provided for 
by the estate of her late husband. A member of 



I20 NATHAN HALE 

the Hale family, she must have seen that whatever 
was true of Nathan Hale in the days when they 
were boy and girl together, he, now a Yale graduate 
and a man among men, first as teacher and then as 
soldier, was even more worthy of her love than in 
their early days. It is probable that they cor- 
responded more or less, though happily none of the 
letters of either are preserved for the curious to 
delight in. All we know is tha.t in December, 1775, 
a year after her husband's death, Nathan Hale 
stopped in Coventry while absent from camp on 
army business, and the broken engagement has 
been said to have been then renewed, this time 
without opposition. 

Having been married and widowed, and having 
lost her little son, Alice Adams Ripley was now free 
to listen to the claims of the first love that had 
entered her heart. What the few brief months 
that remained to Nathan Hale must have meant to 
Alice Ripley, beHeving in him and caring for him, 
only the noblest women can comprehend. 

In regard to the letters written by Nathan Hale 
on the morning of his execution, one of these letters 
is said to have been written to his mother. One or 
two of his biographers have inferred that this must 
be an error, and that it was written to his father or 
to a brother. With the natural dehcacy always so 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 121 

conspicuous in him, a letter to his "mother," so 
called, in reality the mother of one whom we believe 
to have been his betrothed wife, Alice Adams 
Ripley, who would show it to Alice and un- 
doubtedly give it to her, was probably what he 
would have written. The others would know what 
he had written, but Ahce Adams would doubtless 
possess the letter. 

AHce Adams was to live many, many years, to 
become one of the most notable women in the city 
in which she dwelt ; so honored that a copy of her 
portrait has long hung in the Athenaeum, Hart- 
ford's finest shrine for such portraits. 

It was said of her that for several years after 
Nathan's death she had no intention of marrying, 
but, after a widowhood of ten years, events — some 
say changed circumstances — led her to accept an 
offer of marriage from WilHam Lawrence, of Hart- 
ford, which was thenceforth her home. For many 
years she was naturally associated with the social 
life of that city. 

Whatever letters may have passed between 
Nathan Hale and AHce Adams Ripley, no trace of 
them remains to-day. For this we can only be 
grateful that, unHke other unfortunate lovers, — 
Robert Browning and EKzabeth Barrett Browing, 
for instance, — not one word remains of their 



122 NATHAN HALE 

correspondence. That belonged to him and to her 
alone. It is fortunate that no mere curiosity 
hunter can feast his eyes or gossip over the words 
these two people wrote to each other. 

To Alice's husband Nathan's father gave the 
powder horn she once spoke of as having seen 
Nathan working upon in his customary intense 
fashion, ''doing that one thing as if there was 
nothing else to be thought of at that time." Its 
being given to Mr. Lawrence by Nathan's father, 
to whom it must have been dear, proves that Mr. 
Lawrence, as well as his wife, was a welcome addi- 
tion to the Hale family. Mr. Lawrence in turn 
gave it to his son William, and it is now treasured 
by the Connecticut Historical Society. 

Mrs. Lawrence lived well into the nineteenth cen- 
tury, dying in 1845, i^ ^^^ eighty- ninth year. She 
was thoroughly appreciated in Hartford, but it is from 
the pen of a granddaughter, in a note written to the 
Hon. I. W. Stuart, that the best description of Mrs. 
Lawrence is given. Speaking of her grandmother 
she said: ''In person she was rather below the 
middle height, with full, round figure, rather petite. 
She possessed a mild, amiable countenance in 
which was reflected that intelligent superiority 
which distinguished her even in the days of Dwight, 
Hopkins, and Barlow in Hartford — men who could 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 123 

appreciate her, who delighted in her wit and work, 
and who, wdth a coterie of others of that period who 
are still in remembrance, considered her one of 
the brightest ornaments of their society. 

"A fair, fresh complexion . . . bright, intelligent, 
hazel eyes, and hair of a jetty blackness, will give 
you some idea of her looks — the crowning glory 
of which was the forehead that surpassed in beauty 
any I ever saw, and was the admiration of my 
mature years. I portray her, with the exception 
of the hair, as she appeared to me in her eighty-eighth 
year. I never tired of gazing on her youthful com- 
plexion — upon her eyes which retained their youth- 
ful luster unimpaired, and enabled her to read with- 
out any artificial aid ; and upon her hand and arm, 
which, though shrunken much from age, must in her 
younger days have been fit study for a sculptor. 

''Her character was everything that was lovely. 
A lady who had known her many years, writing 
to me after her death, says, 'Never shall I forget 
her unceasing kindness to me, and her noble and 
generous disposition. From my first acquaintance 
with her, and amid all the varied trials through 
which she was called to pass, I had ever occasion 
to admire the calm and christian spirit she uni- 
formly exhibited. To you I will say it, I never knew 
so faultless a character — so gentle, so kind. That 



124 NATHAN HALE 

meek expression, that affectionate eye, are as pres- 
ent to my recollection now as though I had seen 
them but yesterday.' 

"Such is the language of one who had known 
her long and well and whose testimony would be 
considered more impartial than that of one who 
like myself had been the constant recipient of her 
unceasing kindness and affection." 

When she died, the story of the early home of the 
Hales found its completion. Shall we pity them 
or congratulate them that in those long ago days 
so many sorrows came to them ? — testing their 
strength, developing their faith, and fitting them, 
as their days went by, for Hfe and service beyond. 

The following chivalric poem was written by 
Nathan Hale — perhaps in camp. It expresses 
his mental as well as emotional appreciation of 
Alice Adams, It is here given exactly as it ap- 
pears in the original manuscript, yith almost no 
punctuation marks. It is probable that this is a 
first rough draft, intended to be improved at some 
future time. There are marks on the margin of 
the paper which show that the writer had possible 
alterations in mind. 

To Alicia 

Alicia, born with every striking charm 
The eye to ravish or the heart to warm 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 125 

Fair in thy form, still fairer in thy mind 
With beauty wisdom sense with sweetness join'd 
Great without pride, & lovely without Art 
Your looks good nature words good sense impart 
Thus formed to charm Oh deign to hear my song 
Whose best whose sweetest strains to you belong. 

Let others toil amidst the lofty air 

By fancy led through every cloud above 

Let empty Follies build her castles there 

My thoughts are settled on the friend I love. 

Oh friend sincere of soul divinely great 

Shedest thou for me a wretch the sorrowed tear 

What thanks can I in this unhappy state 

Return to you but Gratitude sincere 

T'is friendship pure that now demand my lays 

A theme sincere that Aid my feeble song 

Raised by that theme I do not fear to praise 

Since your the subject where due praise belong 

Ah dearest girl in whom the gods have join'd 

The real blessings, which themselves approve 

Can mortals frown at such an heavenly mind 

When Gods propitious shine on you they love 

Far from the seat of pleasure now I roam 

The pleasing landscape now no more I see 

Yet absence ne'er shall take my thoughts from home 

Nor time efface my due regards for thee. 

(3) Benjamin Tallmadge 

Benjamin Tallmadge, one year older than Nathan 
Hale, was Hale's classmate and one of his cor- 



126 NATHAN HALE 

respondents. Like Hale he became a teacher for 
a time, and then, entering the army, served with 
distinction throughout the war. He was intrusted 
by Washington with important services. In Octo- 
ber, 1780, he was stationed with Col. Jameson at 
North Castle. He had been out on active service 
against the enemy and returned on the evening 
of the day when Major Andre had been brought 
there and had been started back to Arnold for 
explanations. This was four years after the death 
of Hale. 

Listening to the account of the capture, and the 
pass from Arnold, Tallmadge at once surmised 
the importance of retaining Andre and insisted 
upon his being brought back. 

When Andre was once more in American hands, 
Tallmadge is said to have been the first to suspect, 
from the prisoner's deportment as he walked to and 
fro and turned sharply upon his heel to retrace his 
steps, that he was bred to arms and was an im- 
portant British officer. Major Tallmadge was 
charged with his custody, and was almost con- 
stantly with him until his execution. Tallmadge 
writes: ''Major Andre became very inquisitive to 
know my opinion as to the result of his capture. 
In other words, he wished me to give him candidly 
my opinion as to the Hght in which he would be 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 127 

viewed by General Washington and a military 
tribunal if one should be ordered. 

"This was the most unpleasant question that 
had been propounded to me, and I endeavored to 
evade it, unwilKng to give him a true answer. 
When I could no longer evade his importunity and 
put off a full reply, I remarked to him as follows : 
*I had a much loved classmate in Yale College, 
by the name of Nathan Hale, who entered the 
army in the year 1775. Immediately after the 
battle of Long Island, General Washington wanted 
information respecting the strength, position, and 
probable movements of the enemy. 

" ' Captain Hale tendered his services, went over 
to Brooklyn, and was taken just as he was passing 
the outposts of the enemy on his return.' Said I 
with emphasis, 

"'Do you remember the sequel of this story?' 

"'Yes,' said Andre, 'he was hanged as a spy. 
But you surely do not consider his case and mine 
aKke?' 

"I replied, 'Yes, precisely similar, and similar 
will be your fate.' 

"He endeavored to answer my remarks, but it 
was manifest he was more troubled in spirit than I 
had ever seen him before." 

Major Tallmadge walked with Andre from the 



128 NATHAN HALE 

Stone House where he had been confined to the 
place of execution, and parted with him under 
the gallows, *' overwhelmed with grief," he says, 
*'that so gallant an officer and so accomplished 
a gentleman should come to such an ignominious 
end." 

What would have occurred if Andre had not 
been recalled, but had reached Arnold — whether 
both could have escaped by boat to the Vulture 
as did Arnold ; whether Arnold, leaving Andre to 
his fate, could have escaped alone under these 
suspicious circumstances; or whether Hamilton 
and the others, who were dining with Arnold when 
the news of Andre's capture reached him, could 
have managed to hold both until Washington's 
arrival, cannot now be surmised. We only know 
that to Major Tallmadge belongs the credit of the 
recall and retention of Andre as a prisoner, thereby 
preventing the loss of West Point. 

Major Tallmadge remained in the army and 
was greatly trusted by Washington, rendering 
important assistance in the secret service. He 
took part in many battles and in time became a 
colonel. For sixteen years he was in Congress. 
He died at the age of eighty, leaving sons and 
grandsons who won honored names in various 
calHngs. 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 129 

(4) William Hull 

When Captain William Hull, impelled by a strong 
natural caution, spoke as forcibly as he could of the 
disastrous results that might follow Nathan Hale's 
acceptance of the ofEce of a spy in his country's 
service, he described not only the result of the 
failure which seemed almost inevitable, and which 
would result in a disgraceful death, but also the 
contempt that would be felt among his fellow- 
officers should he be successful. Hale, as we have 
seen, deliberately chose these dangers that ap- 
peared so appalling, and lost his life in the manner 
predicted by Hull. 

Could Captain Hull, on that September day in 
1776, have looked forward to other days in 18 12, 
when, because of his surrender of Detroit, he him- 
self would stand as the most disgraced man in the 
American army, he would have wondered what 
disastrous set of causes could have doomed him to 
lower depths of discredit than he had imagined 
possible for his friend Hale. 

This is the story of Captain Hull as told by his 
grandson, the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, a Uni- 
tarian clergyman, and an author of high repute. 

After remaining in the army throughout the 
Revolutionary War, where he distinguished him- 



I30 NATHAN HALE 

self on repeated occasions, constantly rising in 
rank, he settled in Massachusetts, practicing law, 
becoming prominent as a legislator, and finally as 
one of the Massachusetts judges. In 1805, as 
General Hull, he was appointed governor of the 
territory of Michigan by President Jefferson, and 
removed thither, stipulating that in case of war he 
should not be required to serve both as general 
and governor, as he did not believe the duties of 
both could be successfully administered by the 
same person. 

The outbreak of the war of 181 2, which occurred 
while Madison was President, found what was 
then the northern frontier of America wholly 
unprepared for hostihties. The country was new, 
with dense forests and few roads. There were no 
adequate means of land defense, and no adequate 
navy to patrol the lakes. 

The British, as usual, had all the vessels needed, 
well-drilled soldiers, and, more terrible than all, 
more than a thousand Indians, ready to commit any 
atrocities upon defenseless white settlers. As Hull 
had insisted, another officer was appointed to com- 
mand the troops, such as they were, but this officer 
became ill and Governor Hull was forced to take 
command. 

In the meantime, no amount of urgent entreaties 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 131 

could induce the authorities at Washington to send 
reenforcements to the assistance of the defenseless 
settlers. The American troops were unprepared 
to maintain their own position, and absolutely 
unable to conquer and annex Canada, as the 
government expected them to do. General Hull 
found himself with some eight hundred men facing 
more than fifteen hundred British regulars, and 
threatened in the rear by a thousand Indians. 

What President Madison or any of his officers 
would have done, we cannot say. They appear 
to have thought that it was General Hull's duty 
to annihilate the British army, effectually dispose 
of the Indians, and present Canada to the American 
government. 

General Hull, however, was a practical soldier. 
He knew the fate that would await the women and 
children in his territory, to say nothing of his 
small army, if he risked a battle and was defeated, 
as he surely would be ; so he did what seemed to 
him the only possible thing to save the people of 
Michigan. He surrendered. Canada remained un- 
annexed ; the white settlers of Michigan were not 
delivered to the tender mercies of the Indians, and 
General Hull paid the penalty of the independent 
stand he had taken. 

He probably foresaw that he must face a terrible 



132 NATHAN HALE 

ordeal. The whole country appeared to be roused 
against him, and Hull at once became the best-hated 
man in America. A court-martial was appointed. 

At first it was hoped that he would be convicted 
of treason, but the evidence showed that this 
charge could not be sustained. He was tried for 
cowardice in face of the enemy, found guilty, and 
sentenced to be shot. The latter part of the 
sentence President Madison remitted, in considera- 
tion of his past eminent services in the army. So, 
stamped with indelible disgrace by all who did not 
know the facts, a ruined and dishonored man, in 
his sixty-first year General Hull went back to the 
farm in Newton that had come to him through 
his wife. Here, surrounded by the most devoted 
affection, he passed his few remaining years. 

A ruined and discredited man he truly was, — 
the reputation and the honor due him from his 
countrymen irrevocably lost and by no fault of 
his own. Yet his grandson, the Rev. James Free- 
man Clarke, asserts that he was not once heard 
to say an unkind word about the government that 
had treated him so cruelly. 

After his death, in 1825, one of his daughters 
wrote the story of his life from his own writings, 
and the Rev. James Freeman Clarke sketched for 
the world an outline of his grandfather's services in 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 133 

Michigan. This shows that the man who, in his 
youth, tried to dissuade his friend Nathan Hale 
from accepting the role of martyr, himself, in his 
old age, bravely and gently endured a martyrdom 
compared to which the ostracism he predicted for 
Hale, even if he succeeded in his mission, was but 
a passing dream. 

(5) Stephen Hempstead 

To Stephen Hempstead, a sergeant in Nathan 
Hale's company in 1776, we are indebted for the 
most reliable account that is known of Hale's 
movements after he left New York in the service 
from which he was not to return. Sergeant Hemp- 
stead removed to Missouri after the war, and this 
account was first published in the Missouri Re- 
publican in 1827. His own words describing his 
last days with Hale are these: 

^Xaptain Hale was one of the most accomplished 
officers, of his grade and age, in the army. He 
was a native of the town of Coventry, state of 
Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College — 
young, brave, honorable — and at the time of his 
death a Captain in Col. Webb's Regiment of 
Continental Troops. Having never seen a cir- 
cumstantial account of his untimely and melan- 
choly end, I will give it. I was attached to his 



134 NATHAN HALE 

company and in his confidence. After the retreat 
of our army from Long Island, he informed me, he 
was sent for to Head Quarters, and was soHcited 
to go over to Long Island to discover the disposi- 
tion of the enemy's camps, &c., expecting them to, 
attack New York, but that he was too unwell to 
go, not having recovered from a recent illness; 
that upon a second application he had consented 
to go, and said I must go as far with him as I 
could, with safety, and wait for his return. 

'' Accordingly, we left our Camp on Harlem 
Heights, with the intention of crossing over the 
first opportunity ; but none offered until we arrived 
at Norwalk, fifty miles from New York. In that 
harbor there was an armed sloop and one or two 
row galleys. Capt. Hale had a general order to 
all armed vessels, to take him to any place he should 
designate: he was set across the Sound, in the 
sloop, at Huntington (Long Island) by Capt. 
Pond, who commanded the vessel. Capt. Hale 
had changed his uniform for a plain suit of citizen's 
brown clothes, with a round broad-brimmed hat, 
assuming the character of a Dutch schoolmaster, 
leaving all his other clothes, commission, pubHc 
and private papers, v/ith me, and also his silver 
shoebuckles, saying they would not comport with 
his character of schoolmaster, and retaining noth- 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 135 

ing but his College diploma, as an introduction to 
his assumed calling. Thus equipped, we parted 
for the last time in Kfe. He went on his mission, 
and I returned back agai:; to Norwalk, with orders 
to stop there until he should return, or hear from 
him, as he expected to return back again to cross 
the sound, if he succeeded in his object." 

So far as there is any other evidence, it tends to 
confirm this part of Sergeant Hempstead's report, 
and he is to-day considered one of the most valuable 
authorities on Hale's last intercourse with brother 
soldiers. 

Of the details of his captain's arrest and execu- 
tion, which are told in the last part of the account, 
and of which Hempstead had no personal knowl- 
edge, he declares that he was "authentically in- 
formed" and did "most rehgiously believe" them. 
Some of the incidents he gives appear to have been 
proved since to have no basis in fact; others 
that vary from reports now accepted may yet, 
with more light gained, be found to be true. 

The second letter sent by Sergeant Hempstead 
to the Republican deals with his experience in the 
army in 1781, when he was one of the victims of 
the brutalities inflicted upon the hapless prisoners 
of war at Fort Griswold, Groton, Connecticut. 
The injuries he received there were, as he tells 



136 NATHAN HALE 

us, so severe that his own wife, having searched for 
his body in the fort among the dead, scanned care- 
fully the face of every wounded soldier sheltered 
by pitying neighbors, passing him twice without 
recognizing him — he too ill to make any sign — 
and then resuming her search among the dead. 

Later she found him, and after a time he re- 
gained sufficient strength to be carried to his home. 
He was, however, incapacitated by his injuries for 
service in the field, and was thenceforth able to 
perform only duties calling for honest watchfulness 
rather than personal labor. After the removal to 
Missouri the whole family prospered greatly. He 
settled on a farm near the city of St. Louis, where he 
lived many years, respected by ail who knew him. 
He died in 1831. 

(6) Asher Wright 

Near the place where the Hale family lie buried 
is another grave covering the dust of Asher Wright, 
once Nathan Hale's attendant. He was so strongly 
attached to Hale that his tragic death is thought 
to have unsettled his mind so that he never was 
quite himself again, and never able to earn his own 
living. For several years after Nathan Hale's 
death Wright was not heard of in his early home. 
Then he came back to Coventry, bringing with 




Nathan Hale's Basket, Powderhorn. and Camp Book 
These interesting and valuable relics may be seen in the rooms of 
the Connecticut Historical Society. 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 137 

him some of Nathan Hale's effects that he had 
doubtless carried with him in his wandering, 
giving them, on his return, to Deacon Hale's 
family. 

Asher Wright died in his ninetieth year, having 
lived all his later days in his house not far from the 
Hale home. His pension of ninety-six dollars a 
year was so supplemented by the Hale family, 
and by David Hale of New York, editor of the 
Journal of Commerce, that his last days were very 
comfortable. His grave is marked by a marble 
headstone giving his name, age, and former con- 
nection with Nathan Hale. 

His farm adjoined that of the Hale homestead 
and has now become a part of it. 

(7) Elisha Bostwick 

One letter concerning Nathan Hale comes to us 
with a curious and interesting history. 

Not long ago, while in the city of Washington, 
a loyal friend and warm admirer of Nathan Hale, 
George Dudley Seymour, Esq., of New Haven, had 
his attention called to a remarkable tribute to 
Hale. It proved to have been written by a fellow- 
soldier in the Revolutionary War, Captain Elisha 
Bostwick. This remarkable document was found 
in the musty records of a very old pension Hst, 



138 NATHAN HALE 

and the portion relating to Nathan Hale is here 
given. It came to light a hundred and thirty-five 
years after Hale's execution. We give this valu- 
able record of Captain Bostwick's as it appeared 
in the Hartford Courant of December 15th, 1914: 
"I will now make some observations upon the 
amiable & unfortunate Capt. Nathan Hale whose 
fate is so well known ; for I was with him in the 
same Regt. both at Boston & New York & until the 
day of his tragical death; & although of inferior 
grade in office was always in the habits of friend- 
ship & intimacy with him : & my remembrance of 
his person, manners & character is so perfect that 
I feel incHned to make some remarks upon them : 
for I can now in imagination see his person & hear 
his voice — his person I should say was a Httle 
above the common stature in height, his shoulders 
of a moderate breadth, his Hmbs strait & very 
plump: regular features — very fair skin — blue 
eyes — flaxen or very Hght hair which was always 
kept short — his eyebrows a shade darker than his 
hair & his voice rather sharp or Piercing — his 
bodily agility was remarkable. I have seen him 
follow a football & kick it over the tops of the 
trees in the Bowery at New York (an exercise 
which he was fond of) — his mental powers seemed 
to be above the common sort — his mind of a 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 139 

sedate and sober cast, & he was undoubtedly Pious ; 
for it was remarked that when any of the soldiers 
of his company were sick he always visited them & 
usually prayed for & with them in their sickness. — 
A little anecdote I will relate ; one day he acciden- 
tally came across some of his men in a bye place 
playing cards — he spoke — what are you doing 
— this won't do, — give me your cards, they did 
so, & he chopd them to pieces, & it was done in 
such a manner that the men were rather pleased 
than otherwise — his activity on all occasions was 
wonderful — he would make a pen the quickest 
& best of any man — 

^* Innumerable instances of occurrences which 
took place in the Army I could relate, but who 
would care for them : Perhaps it may be thought 
by some that I have already been at the expense 
of Prolixity, nobody in these days feels as I do, 
left here alone, & they cannot if they would, but 
to me it is a melancholy pleasure to go back to 
those Scenes of fear & anguish & after the laps of 
50 years (1826 was in my 78th year) to rumenate 
upon them which I think I can do with as bright a 
recollection as though they were present — One 
more reflection I will make — why is it that the 
delicious Capt. Hale should be left & lost in an 
unknown grave & forgotten ! — 



I40 NATHAN HALE 

"The foregoing Statements were made from 
Memory & recollection & from documents & 
Memorandoms which I kept. — Elisha Bostwick." 

(8) Edward Everett Hale 

Of the subsequent records of the Hale family 
no trace remains that is not honorable. Nathan's 
brother Enoch was settled at Westhampton, 
Massachusetts, in 1777, where he remained a 
useful and beloved pastor for sixty years. Enoch's 
eldest son, Nathan, graduated at Williams College 
in 1804. He was editor-in-chief of the Boston 
Daily Advertiser for more than forty years. 
Nathan's son, Nathan, a Havard graduate, be- 
came associate editor of the Boston Advertiser. 

Lucretia Peabody Hale, a well-known writer in 
her day, whose dehghtful and amusing "Peterkin 
Papers" are still read and remembered, was a 
granddaughter of the Rev. Enoch Hale. 

Edward Everett Hale, a man beloved by every 
one who knew him, was the son of ''a great journal- 
ist," Nathan, grandson of Enoch, and therefore 
grandnephew of Captain Nathan Hale. He, too, 
had a son Nathan who died in his early manhood. 
Edward Everett Hale was one of the most com- 
manding and admired of men, with rare endow- 
ments as clergyman, author, editor, and patriot. 



NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS 141 

Those interested in the study of his granduncle, 
Nathan, owe to him the preservation of many 
records of the Hale family, and an arrangement 
of the genealogy of the Hale family, made while 
he was a Unitarian minister in Worcester, Mas- 
sachusetts, and kindly lent to the Hon. I. W. Stuart, 
one of Hale's early biographers. 

It will be long before some of Edward Everett 
Hale's vital words are forgotten ; longer still before 
his marvelous story, ''The Man Without a Country," 
shall cease to thrill its readers. 

The impassioned sentences in which he cites its 
unhappy hero as speaking to a boy — a midship- 
man — while under heavy stress, read, "For your 
country, boy, and for your flag, never dream a 
dream but of serving her as she bids you, though 
the service carry you through a thousand hells. 
No matter what happens to you, no matter who 
flatters you or who abuses you, never look at an- 
other flag, never let a night pass but you pray God 
to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind 
all these men you have to do with, behind officers, 
and government, and people even, there is the 
Country Herself, your Country, and that you be- 
long to Her as you belong to your own mother." 

No one justly comprehending the bed rock of 
Edward Everett Hale's boundless patriotism can 



142 NATHAN HALE 

doubt that if the same call of duty had come to 
him that came in bygone days to his relative, 
young Nathan Hale, he would have done exactly 
as Nathan Hale did. That call did not come, but 
to the end of his days Edward Everett Hale lived 
for his country as nobly as Nathan Hale died for it. 



CHAPTER X 

Ancestors and Descendants of Nathan 
Hale's Parents 

Robert Hale arrived in Massachusetts in 1632. 
He was one of those sent from the first church in 
Boston to form the first church in Charlestown in 
1632, and was a deacon of this church. He was a 
blacksmith by trade. He also had a gift for prac- 
tical mathematics, being regularly employed by 
the General Court of Massachusetts as a sur- 
veyor of new plantations. His son John, of whom 
mention has been made in connection with the witch- 
craft delusion, was a graduate of Harvard in 1657. 
Samuel, the fourth son of John, was the father of 
Richard, father of Nathan Hale. 

Elizabeth Strong, wife of Deacon Richard Hale 
and mother of Nathan, came from a family more 
notable than that of her husband. Her grand- 
father, Joseph Strong, represented Coventry in 
the General Assembly of Connecticut for sixty-five 
sessions and presided over town-meeting in his 
ninetieth year. 

143 



144 NATHAN HALE 

Mrs. Hale had four immediate relatives who were 
graduates of Yale college. Three of the sons of 
Deacon Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong Hale 
graduated from Yale, — Enoch, the fourth son, 
Nathan, the sixth child, and David, the eighth 
son. Three of the sons were officers in the Revolu- 
tionary army, and the husband of a daughter was 
a surgeon there. John was a major ; Joseph, who 
died as the result of the privations endured there, 
was a lieutenant; and Nathan was a captain. 
Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph, married Rev. Abiel 
Abbot, for many years minister in Coventry. 
Three of their sons were college graduates — two 
of Yale and one of Dartmouth. Rebekah, another 
daughter of Joseph, married Ezra Abbot of Wilton, 
N.H. Three sons were graduates of Bowdoin. 
One son, the Rev. Abiel Abbot, was settled in East 
Wilton. 

Two daughters also married clergymen. An- 
other daughter of Joseph, Mary, married the Rev. 
Levi Nelson. For a man who died at the age of 
thirty-four. Lieutenant Joseph Hale appears to 
have been well represented by his descendants. 

Surgeon Rose of the Revolutionary army, and 
Elizabeth Hale, daughter of Deacon Richard Hale, 
were the grandparents of the distinguished lawyer 
and statesman, Washington Hunt, and of Lieuten- 



HALE'S ANCESTORS 145 

ant Edward Hunt, U.S.A., first husband of the 
celebrated author, Helen Hunt. 

Enoch Hale, Deacon Richard Hale's fourth son, 
graduated in the same class with his brother Nathan, 
became a minister, and spent a long life in his first 
and only pastorate. One of his sons, Enoch, was 
educated at Yale and Harvard and became a noted 
physician. A son, Nathan, was a graduate of 
WilHams College, and editor of the Boston Ad- 
vertiser for more than forty years. His son Nathan, 
a Harvard man, became coeditor with him. One 
of Enoch's granddaughters married a minister 
named Montague. 

David, another son of Deacon Richard Hale, 
graduated at Yale, and was settled in the min- 
istry at Lisbon, Connecticut. Joanna, the second 
daughter of Richard Hale, married Dr. Nathan 
Howard. 

One of Enoch Hale's grandsons was president of 
the Continental Bank in New York City. The most 
noted of Enoch Hale's descendants was the Rev. 
Edward Everett Hale, clergyman, editor, and 
author, and a graduate of Harvard. The writer, 
Lucretia Peabody Hale, was one of Enoch Hale's 
grandchildren. David Hale, a grandson of Rich- 
ard Hale, was long in control of the Journal of 
Commerce in New York City and noted for his 



146 NATHAN HALE 

charities. Alexander and Charies, grandsons of 
Enoch, were graduates of Harvard. 

As this list of college graduates and professional 
men is not extended beyond the year 1850, a little 
past the limit of a century after the marriage of 
Richard Hale and EKzabeth Strong, one is in- 
clined to wonder whether any other farmer's 
family within that, or any other, period in American 
history, can show a more remarkable record. 

One is impressed, too, most profoundly, by the 
realization that, although EHzabeth Strong Hale 
died so early, as Hves are now measured, — she 
was only forty, — to few women in any land who 
have reached the appointed limit of human life 
have been given the remarkable power of leaving 
to so many descendants such warmth of feeling 
and such nobihty of nature as passed through that 
century of her descendants. 



CHAPTER XI 

Asserted Betrayal of Nathan Hale 

For some time after the death of Nathan Hale 
a report was circulated, and apparently substan- 
tiated, that he had been betrayed into the hands of 
the British by a Tory cousin. Ultimately this 
report was printed in a Newburyport (Massachu- 
setts) newspaper of the day, and read by Mr. 
Samuel Hale of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 
This Mr. Hale was a prominent teacher and a 
strong friend of the American cause, and uncle 
both to Nathan Hale and to Samuel Hale, the 
cousin who was said to have betrayed Nathan. 

Mr. Samuel Hale never for a moment believed the 
report, and set himself at once to disprove it. This 
appears to have been done in the most effectual 
way by the combined efforts of Mr. Samuel Hale 
and Deacon Hale, who furnished proof that the 
supposed betrayer of Nathan Hale had never 
visited in Deacon Hale's family, and, not being in 
his uncle's house when Nathan visited there, had 
never so much as seen Nathan Hale. 

147 



148 NATHAN HALE 

There were, of course, at the time, strong ani- 
mosities existing between those who supported the 
British cause among the Americans, and the Ameri- 
cans who were opposing England. As at all such 
times, some members of each party were not only 
unjust but cruel to the other party ; and in some 
respects this nephew of the teacher, Samuel Hale, 
and asserted betrayer of Nathan, paid very heavily 
for his loyalty to the English cause. We will let 
him tell his own story, only adding that when 
hostilities broke out he was a young and successful 
barrister practicing in Portsmouth, was married, 
and had one child. 

Unswerving in his loyalty to the English cause, 
he was soon obhged to leave New Hampshire, and 
eventually to go into EngKsh territory. He wrote 
to his uncle Samuel, in whose family he had been 
reared, and later to his wife ; neither letter is dated, 
but it is probable that when the latter was written 
he was in Nova Scotia. His letter to his uncle 
runs in part as follows : 

^'My affections as well as my allegiance are due 
to another nation. I love the British government 
with filial fondness. I have never been actuated by 
any political rancor towards the Americans. My 
conduct has always been fair, expHcit, and open, 
and I may add, some of your people have found it 



ASSERTED BETRAYAL OF NATHAN HALE 149 

humane at a time when affairs on our side wore the 
most flattering appearances. My veneration is as 
high, my friendship as warm, and my attachment as 
great as ever it was for many characters among you, 
though I have differed much from them in poHtics. 
In the justness of the reasoning which led to the 
principles that have guided me through life, I 
can suppose myself mistaken. The same thing may 
have been the case with my opponents. Our 
powers are so limited, our means of information 
so inadequate to the end, that common decency 
requires we should forgive each other when we have 
every reason to think that each has acted honestly. 

*'Sure I am, this is the case with me and I hope 
it is the same with some of you. My conduct dur- 
ing this unhappy contest has been invariably uni- 
form. I can in no sense be called a traitor to your 
state. I never owed it any allegiance, because I 
left it before it had assumed the form or even the 
name of an independent state, and when I neither 
saw or felt any oppression. I must have been mad 
as well as wicked to have acted any other part than 
I did upon the principles I held. If I have been 
mistaken I am sorry for the error, and if it be error 
I still continue in it." 

This letter is certainly a good illustration of the 
truth that, in all great contests, perfectly honorable 



150 NATHAN HALE 

and consistent men are forced to take opposite 
sides, even at the cost of suffering heavy injustice. 
The letter to his wife is here given in full. 

My Dear Girl, — 

This you will get by Mr. Hart's flag of Truce, who is 
coming to Boston for his family. I know the disposition 
of the Leaders at Boston so well, that I doubt not of his 
success. I would have come for you and the boy, but I 
thought you would leave your father with reluctance, nor 
am I sure that I could have obtained leave for you to come 
away, if you were disposed. I fear the resentment of the 
people against me may have injured you, but I hope not. 
I am sorry such a prejudice has arisen. 

Depend upon it, there never was the least truth in that 
infamous newspaper publication charging me with ingrati- 
tude, etc. I am happy that they have had [to have] re- 
course to falsehood to vilify my character. Attachment to 
the old Constitution of my country is my only crime with 
them — for which I have still the disposition of the primi- 
tive martyr. 

I hope and believe you want no pecuniary assistance. If 
you should you may apply to some of my friends or your re- 
lations. You may then use my name with confidence that 
they shall be amply satisfied. I believe I shall have the 
power, I am sure I shall have the will, to recompense them 
again. 

I somewhat expect to see you in a few months — perhaps 
not before I have seen England. In the meanwhile, my dear 
Girl, take care of your own and the Boy's health. He may 
live to be serviceable to his country in some distant period. 



ASSERTED BETRAYAL OF NATHAN HALE 151 

Respect, Love, Duty, etc., await all my inquiring and real 

friends. j „^ .^ 

1 am, etc. 

To Mrs Hale S. Hale. 

These letters sufficiently attest the character of 
the man, and we can hope that in later days he was 
enabled to return to his family, and to prove that 
political differences of opinion had not changed 
the integrity of his life. 

Knowing nothing of his later days, we may re- 
joice that the base assertion that this own cousin 
had betrayed Nathan Hale was wholly without 
foundation ; and that in him, also, the Hale trait 
of loyalty to honest opinions enabled him to make 
sacrifices as great in their way as those made by 
many of his kindred. 



CHAPTER XII 

Contrasts Between Hale and Andre 

If Nathan Hale was in many respects the most 
notable American martyr, another man, in the 
English army, four years later met a doom that to 
the English appears to have exalted him to a rank 
corresponding to Nathan Hale's. For a long time 
there was a glamour about Andre that Hfted him 
above the place to which, in the minds of many, 
he rightfully belonged, and comparisons have often 
been made between him and Hale, as if in reaHty 
their services and their characters justified such 
comparison. 

It has been our aim to describe Hale as accurately 
as possible. He has been presented as an educated, 
high-minded patriot, wholly intent upon serving his 
country to the full extent of his ability, ready to 
run any risk in her service, and fully comprehend- 
ing, in his last supreme effort to serve her, that he 
was risking his life and facing the possibiHty of a 
dishonorable death. He expected no reward if he 
152 



CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRE 153 

succeeded, save the consciousness of having done 
his duty. But fail he did, and we have seen how 
simply and bravely he accepted his doom. His 
grave is unknown to this day, and his country, 
as a country, has made no recognition whatever 
of his supreme sacrifice. 

In regard to Andre, we know that he was of 
foreign parentage, his father a Genevan Swiss, and 
his mother French. He had not inherited a drop 
of EngHsh blood. Born, however, after his parents 
removed to London, he was, in ordinary acceptance, 
EngKsh. 

His parents were able to educate him thoroughly, 
and to fit him for what they supposed would be a 
successful commercial career. A disappointment 
in love, however, led him to seek a change of scene, 
and he entered the English army. 

Personally he was most attractive, charming in 
his manners beyond the average man, a fine lin- 
guist, and a brave man. He soon attracted at- 
tention among the English officers engaged in the 
war against America, and was eventually made 
adjutant general of the English army. So far as 
can now be judged, his life as a soldier had been 
most agreeable, and he had made friends with all 
his associates. While Arnold was perfecting his 
designs to betray West Point into the hands of the 



154 NATHAN HALE 

English, and thus in effect terminate the war, 
Andre was appointed to act as the intermediary 
between Arnold and Sir Henry Chnton. 

Andre may have looked upon himself as an envoy 
from his own commander to an American com- 
mander, and he well knew that, if successful, high 
honor and a desirable command in the British 
army would be awarded him by the EngUsh govern- 
ment. He does not appear to have considered the 
fact that he was risking his hf e in the service of the 
English. Indeed, none of the English officers ap- 
pear to have thought it possible that the Americans 
would dare to treat as a spy an English adjutant 
general who had been invited to his headquarters 
by General Arnold, and by him provided with 
safeguards for his return. So sure were they of 
Andre's safety that it is said the British officers 
treated with derision the suggestion that he was 
in danger, even after his capture. 

Once captured, they should not have been so 
sure of his safety. But neither they nor he had 
any idea that he would be captured. Indeed, we 
can hardly see how he could have been captured 
had he followed the instructions of Sir Henry 
Clinton, who strictly enjoined him not to go with- 
in the American lines, not to assume any disguise, 
and not to carry a scrap of writing. 



CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRE 155 

At first Andre had supposed that Arnold would 
meet him on the Vulture, and that all their negotia- 
tions would be completed there. But Arnold, too 
crafty to run any personal risk, or arouse any 
suspicion in his own officers, insisted upon Andre's 
landing and conferring with him at some little 
distance from his own headquarters. Disregard- 
ing, through Arnold's persuasions, CHnton's first 
order to remain upon the Vulture, Andre's other 
failures in obedience appear to have been inevi- 
table, and taking the risks as they came, he went 
forward to his doom, to his death, to Arnold's ruin 
as an American citizen, and to the preservation of 
the infant repubhc. 

For the third time. Providence appears to have 
thwarted the shrewdest plans of the enemies of 
America. First came the fog in New York Bay, 
enabling Washington to withdraw his troops from 
Brooklyn without the knowledge of the British; 
second, the knowledge of Hale's fate and the pres- 
ervation of his last words by a humane English 
officer, despite the malice of Provost Marshal Cun- 
ningham ; third, and apparently most important 
of all, the capture of Andre, involving the defeat 
of Arnold's traitorous plans to ruin his country's 
cause. 

From the moment Andre fell into the hands of 



156 NATHAN HALE 

the Americans, he was treated with the utmost 
courtesy. Every possible opportunity for him to 
prove his innocence was given him, and an offer 
to exchange him for Arnold, who had fled to the 
British camp, was made to the commanders of 
the English. This, however, could not be done 
honorably by Sir Henry Clinton, and Andre had 
to face a fate he had not for a moment thought 
possible. 

He bore himself bravely, and he certainly won 
the hearts of those who held him prisoner. When 
he came to die in Tappan — not, as he had hoped, 
as a soldier, shot to death, but hanged as a spy — 
he seemed for a moment greatly affected. Then 
recovering himself before the fatal drop he said, 
*' Gentlemen, I beg you all to bear witness that I 
die as a brave man." 

Self-pity, the desire to be honored despite the 
manner of his death, marked Andre's exit from the 
world. Hale had gone hence without one personal 
expression of regret save that he could not add to 
his service for his country. 

Andre had died pitied and lamented even by 
loyal Americans. England, remembering what he 
had done to serve her, and that he had died in her 
service, rendered his memory the highest honor. 
She conferred knighthood on his brother, and a 



CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRE 157 

pension of three hundred guineas a year on his 
mother and sisters, already well provided for. 

Forty years later she sent one of her war vessels 
to America to bring his body back to England; 
and then the doors of stately Westminster Abbey, 
in which lie buried the dust of those she most de- 
lights to honor, were opened to receive his remains ; 
there they will lie till the old Abbey crumbles. 

Thus England honors the men who try to serve 
her in any line of heroic service, proving that if she 
"expects every man to do his duty,'' she, in her 
turn, expects to honor those who serve her, be they 
her own sons or the sons of strangers bom "within 
her gates." 

October 2, 1879, the ninety-ninth anniversary 
of the execution of Andre, a monument, prepared 
by order of Cyrus W. Field and placed over 
the spot of Andre's execution, was unveiled. 
There were present members of historical societies, 
of the United States Army, of the newspapers, and 
various other persons. At noon, the hour of Andre's 
execution, the memorial was unveiled. There were 
no ceremonies on the occasion. The epitaph had 
been prepared by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanle}^, 
the beloved and honored Dean of Westminster, at 
whose suggestion Mr. Field had erected the me- 
morial. It is inscribed as follows : 



158 NATHAN HALE 

Here died, October 2, 1780 
Major John Andre of the British Army, 

Who, entering the American lines 

On a secret mission to Benedict Arnold, 

For the surrender of West Point, 

Was taken prisoner, tried and condemned as a spy. 

His death 

Though according to the stern rule of war, 

Moved even his enemies to pity ; 

And both armies mourned the fate 

Of one so young and so brave. 

In 1 82 1 his remains were removed to Westminster Abbey. 

A hundred years after the execution 

This stone was placed above the spot where he lay, 

By a citizen of the United States against which he 

fought, 

Not to perpetuate the record of strife, 

But in token of those friendly feelings 

Which have since united two nations, 

One in race, in language, and in religion, 

With the hope that this friendly union 

Will never be broken. 

On the other side are these words of Washington : 

"He was more unfortunate than criminal." 
"An accomplished man and gallant officer." 

— George Washington 

The first of the two lines was from a letter of 
Washington to Count de Rochambeau, dated 
October 10, 1780. The second is from a letter 



CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRE 159 

written by Washington to Colonel John Laurens 
on October 13 of the same year. 

In the year 1853 some Americans who believe 
that all historic spots in our land should be marked 
by permanent memorials, erected a monument at 
Tarrytown, New York, in honor of the captors of 
Andre. Hon. Henry J. Raymond made the ad- 
dress at its dedication. Mr. Raymond was born 
in 1820 and was graduated from the University 
of Vermont in 1840. He assisted Horace Greeley 
in the conduct of the Tribune and other newspapers. 
He founded the New York Times in 185 1 and died 
in 1869. 

In the address just mentioned, Mr. Raymond, 
contrasting the halo that surrounded Andre's 
name with the oblivion then seemingly the fate of 
Nathan Hale, closed with these impassioned 
words : 

^' Where sleeps the Americanism of Americans, 
that their hearts are not stirred to solemn rapture 
at thought of the sublime love of country which 
buoyed him [Hale] not alone above 'the fear of 
death,' but far beyond all thought of himself, of 
his fate, and his fame, or of anything less than his 
country, and which shaped his dying breath into 
the sacred sentence which trembled at the last 
upon his unquivering lip?" 



i6o NATHAN HALE 

With this tribute we close, believing that the 
tardy justice accorded to our martyr-hero is des- 
tined to become a nation-wide loyalty; that the 
day will yet come when our nation, as a nation, 
will recognize the nobility of nature displayed, 
and will assign a high place to the brave lad who so 
sublimely relinquished all that life held, and all 
that coming years might bring, to die for his country, 
— our country, — the high-souled Nathan Hale. 



T 



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Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors 

By JAMES BARNES 

Tales of 1812, by the author of "Drake and his Yeomen," "For King 
and Country," etc. Illustrated by R. F. Zogbaum and Carlton T. 
Chapman. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $i.§o 

The Wilderness Road 

By H. ADDINGTON BRUCE 

The central figure in this story of the early development of the Middle 
West is Daniel Boone, the man who blazed the famous Wilderness road. 
In telling his story Mr. Bruce touches on such matters as the economic 
and social factors influencing the movement across the mountains, and 
the significance of that movement with relation to the growth of revo- 
lutionary sentiment in the American colonies, etc. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

The Story of the Great Lakes 

By EDWARD CHANNING and MARION F. LANSING 

The Professor of American History in Harvard University, author of a 
number of volumes on the History of the United States, has found an im- 
mense amount of romance centred about the Great Lakes, from the time 
of their discovery and early exploration by the French missionaries down 
to the present time when they play so important a part in the industrial 
progress of the Middle West. This book tells the story of these great in- 
land waterways, with special reference to those picturesque aspects of his- 
tory which interest the general reader. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

The Story of Old Fort Loudon 

By CHARLES EGBERT CRADDOCK 

A Tale of the Cherokees and the Pioneers of Tennessee, 1760, by the 
author of "The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains." Illustrated by 
Ernest C. Peixotto. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 



STORIES FROM AMERICAN HiSTORY — Continued 



The Story of the New England Whalers 

By JOHN R. SPEARS 

Some of the most romantic and adventurous characters in American his- 
tory are dealt with in this book, in which Mr. Spears tells of the Ameri- 
can whaling industry. He has given us the life stories of the men to 
whom more than to any others was due the upbuilding of the American 
merchant service. Illustrated from photographs. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $r.^o 

The Story of the American Merchant Marine 

By JOHN R. SPEARS 

" For over twenty years Mr. Spears has been regarded as an authority on 
American sea enterprises. The books from his pen are based upon long 
study of the topics he treats. ... In the present volume he tells the 
story of our merchant marine from its beginnings, through all the phases 
of its history . . . that have marked this feature of our activities since 
the Civil War." — Advocate of Peace. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coast 

By frank R. STOCKTON 

This book is an account of the offshoots of the early English, French, and 
Dutch combinations against Spanish exactions in "West India waters. 
From the early buccaneer and later pirates Mr. Stockton has told these 
wild and entertaining stories of picturesque figures. Illustrated by G. 
Varian and B. W. Clinedinst. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

The Last American Frontier 

By Professor FREDERIC L. PAXSON 

" His happy mastery of his subject enables his readers to grasp it far 
more effectually than by the method of supplying them with dates and 
incidents and leaving them to shape their own vision of the progress of 
settlement as a whole." — The Living Age. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York 



STORIES FROM AMERICATn^ HIST ORY ~ Continued 



Southern Soldier Stories 

By GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON 

Forty-seven stories illustrating the heroism of those brave Amencans who 
fought on the losing side in the Civil War. Humor and pathos are found 
side by side in these pages, which bear evidence of absolute truth. Illus- 
trated by RuFUS F. Zogbaum. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

Tales of the Enchanted Isles of the Atlantic 

By THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON 

Legends showing that the people of Europe were for centuries fed with 
romances of marvellous and beautiful countries beyond the Atlantic. Be- 
sides the early Irish, Spanish, and other traditions of the Happy Islands 
of the West, there come to us, among others from our own race, the old 
stories of King Arthur and his Avalon; of St. Brandan's Isle; of the Voy- 
ages of Erik the Viking ; and of the vanishing Norumbega, so real a vision 
to the imaginations of Queen Elizabeth's day. Illustrated by Albert 
Herter. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

De Soto and His Men in the Land of Florida 

By grace king 

The author of "New Orleans: The Place and the People" has collected 
into an entertaining volume stories of the brilliant armada which sailed 
westward under De Soto in 1538 to subdue the natives and bring this 
country under the Spanish crown. Old Spanish and Portuguese narra- 
tives are the basis of its history. Illustrated by George Gibbs. 

Decorated cloth, illustrated, $1.50 



The Everychild's Series 



Edited by Dr. JAMES H. VAN SICKLE 

Each volume, cloth, i2mo, illustrated, 40 cents 

The Everychild^s Series is a library of fiction and dramatics, 
science and information, literature and art for children. Its 
contents include a wide range of subject matter, which will 
broaden the child's interest in plays and games, fairy-tales 
and fables, nature study and geography, useful arts and indus- 
tries, biography and history, government and public service, 
myths and folk-lore, fine arts and hterature. 
This series seeks not only to instruct the child with simplicity, 
charm, and wholesomeness, but to heighten his finer apprecia- 
tion of the beautiful, and to give him, along with keen enjoy- 
ment, the things of life that are interesting and valuable. 
The authors of the books of this series have been chosen for 
their special fitness to write books for children. To each 
author has been given the choice of topic and method of 
treatment. The result is that the books in the series are not 
only charming and enjoyable but intellectually satisfying to 
the child. 

The volumes are interesting and attractive in appearance. 
They are neatly and strongly bound in cloth with design in 
two colors. The type page is set leaded in large type with a 
wide margin. The illustrations are numerous and attractive 
and designed especially to represent the characters that appear 
in the story. 

The series is a splendid source of supplementary reading ma- 
terial. It consists of over a score of volumes. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Areuue New York 



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